The Sixers just signaled their trade deadline intentions

One week ago, the Sixers were roughly $7.1 million over the NBA's $187.9 million luxury-tax line after signing Charles Bassey to a 10-day contract. On Saturday, the NBA announced a 25-game suspension for Paul George, which gave the Sixers a $5.9 million tax variance credit. That brought them down to less than $1.3 million above the tax.

At that point, it was clear that they'd get below the tax by Thursday's NBA trade deadline. The only question was how they'd do it.

They seemingly answered that Wednesday by trading Jared McCain to the Oklahoma City Thunder for a 2026 first-round pick (likely from Houston), a 2027 second-round pick that should be in the mid-40s, a 2028 Bucks second-rounder and a 2028 OKC second-rounder.

By subtracting McCain's $4.2 million salary from their books, the Sixers are now roughly $3.0 million below the tax. They now have two open roster spots and more than enough breathing room under the tax to convert both Dominick Barlow and Jabari Walker from two-way contracts to standard deals.

For all we know, this might be it for the Sixers at this year's trade deadline. They can boast about this trade increasing their future optionality by giving them additional draft capital to draw upon, but that argument will quickly fall apart if McCain returns to his rookie-year form in OKC.

For the fourth straight year, the Sixers seemingly prioritized getting under the tax line at the trade deadline. It's as plain and simple as that.

It also might rub Joel Embiid the wrong way.

Sixers didn't listen to Embiid's pleas

After the Sixers' win over the Sacramento Kings last Thursday, Embiid was asked about what he'd like to see the Sixers do at the deadline. He was not subtle.

Joel Embiid, asked about keeping the team together at the trade deadline:

"In the past we've been ducking the tax, so hopefully we think about improving [the team at the deadline], because we got a chance."

"I hope that at least we get a chance to just go out and compete,… pic.twitter.com/QdCz3HlbL9
— Derek Bodner (@DerekBodnerNBA) January 30, 2026

Although the draft picks that they acquired for McCain should eventually help them, they won't this year unless the Sixers have a subsequent move planned. If this is it, that isn't likely to sit well in the locker room.

The Sixers aren't waving the white flag on the season, but losing McCain and not getting a player in return hardly suggests that they're hyperfixated on their playoff seeding. Tax savings are a far more likely justification for this deal, which is the exact thing Embiid pleaded with them not to worry about.

McCain struggled for most of this season, but he had come alive as of late. Embiid recently expressed his excitement to continue developing their chemistry in two-man actions akin to the relationship he once had with Seth Curry, Danny Green and JJ Redick.

Meanwhile, Maxey identified McCain as one of the players who most needed to step up until Paul George returns in late March.

At the moment, it appears as though the Sixers sold low on McCain, in part due to their proximity to the luxury-tax line. We've been warning about a financially motivated move for a while, but using McCain as the salary to dump rather than Andre Drummond came as a legitimate surprise.

Even if the Sixers do have something else up their sleeve, here's a bold prediction: It will be close to cap-neutral at worse. Dumping McCain only to go back into the tax to re-sign Barlow and/or Walker would speak to some fundamental confusion about the Sixers' overall approach to the trade deadline.

Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac and salary-cap information via RealGM.

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