Is Kentavious Caldwell-Pope the Final Addition of the Sixers' Offseason?

Mike Gansey and company might've engaged in a small celebration upon learning that LeBron James had chosen to come to Philadelphia on Friday morning, but their work for the day was not done.

Of course, perhaps the gravity of James' choice did the work for them. Just after midnight, veteran guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was in the process of finalizing a buyout from the Memphis Grizzlies and intended to join James in Philadelphia, according to Chris Haynes.

You don't need hard reporting to know that this is a veteran minimum contract, as that's the only tool the Sixers have left to make additions to their roster.

Caldwell-Pope, 33, has fallen off as a 3-point shooter in recent years after enjoying five consecutive seasons of see-sawing around 40% from behind the arc. 33 is not particularly old for a low-usage shooter who has spent much of his career spacing off high-usage stars and defending at a respectable level. It is not a bad bet that, playing in lineups that feature a passing wizard in former teammate James and several other offensive forces that possess gravity to shift defenses, Caldwell-Pope could exhibit positive regression back to what his prime years as a shooter looked like.

Time will tell whether he has anything left in the tank on defense. But even in the worst-case scenario, opportunity cost is the only downside of a one-year deal at the minimum.

If nothing else, he deepens the Sixers' bench.

Point Guard	Shooting Guard	Small Forward	Power Forward	Center
Tyrese Maxey	V.J. Edgecombe	Jaylen Brown	James	Joel Embiid
Labaron Philon Jr.	Anfernee Simons	Justin Edwards	Dean Wade	Adem Bona
	Kentavious Caldwell-Pope		Dominick Barlow	Ariel Hukporti
			Jabari Walker	Johni Broome

Caldwell-Pope puts the Sixers over the roster maximum, but there's more than just that to complicate matters for Philadelphia.

The Sixers need to make some changes at the end of the roster for two reasons. First, they need to clear out the final standard roster spot. Second, they need to free the money necessary to actually sign both James and Caldwell-Pope.

Philadelphia sat $3,418,542 below the first apron as of Sunday morning, before the James and Caldwell-Pope transactions were finalized. They cannot exceed $209,015,000 in obligations at any point in the 2026-27 season. The additions of James and Caldwell-Pope will add $6,325,950 to the Sixers' books.

So Philadelphia will have to get below the first apron, which functions as a hard cap for them because they used their non-taxpayer mid-level exception this summer. Philadelphia has $205,596,458 worth of obligations on its cap sheet for the 2026-27 season. They'll have to cut bait with two players to fit James and Caldwell-Pope.

First will be Dalen Terry, whose contract is fully non-guaranteed for 2026-27. The Sixers announced that he had been waived on Sunday evening, wiping $2,584,359 from their obligations.

Jabari Walker very well could be next, as he's guaranteed just $250,000 out of his $2,584,359 contract for 2026-27. With Philadelphia now sitting $6,002,901 below the first apron after Terry's release, the Sixers now need just $323,049 of additional salary trimmed to stay below the first apron while also completing the transactions for James and Caldwell-Pope.

It could be as simple as cutting Walker. It could be as simple as canvassing the market for salary-dump trades for him or Broome if the Sixers want to go that route or try to keep Walker instead. Alternatively, there are waive-and-stretch concepts they could look at to chop money, spreading the cap hit over a number of years to reduce present-day costs.

Whichever route the Sixers go, they will almost certainly go into the season with a roster spot open, leaving room to add pieces once needs became more apparent. However, their proximity to the first apron would suggest that Gansey does not want to use the mid-season buyout market as a necessary lever to add to the team. Once all guaranteed salaries are set, the most feasible way to make changes would be to make trades.

There would be some downside to flying this close to the first apron. With a third two-way spot still available, agents will also be aware that their clients could not secure big guarantees in Philadelphia beyond the duration of their two-way contracts. That would ostensibly reduce the pool of free agents interested in taking a two-way in Philadelphia.

The good news for the Sixers?

They've knocked this summer so far out of the park that the things they're worried about in late July are whether or not to simply waive both of their non-guaranteed contracts and whether or not they can attract a final two-way contractor without much guaranteed on a standard deal.

Oh, the first-world problems of the NBA.

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