Where Are All the Sixers Trade Rumors?

Now that we're only a few weeks away from the Feb. 5 NBA trade deadline, trade buzz has begun to fly. The Atlanta Hawks already shipped Trae Young to the Washington Wizards, and the Memphis Grizzlies are reportedly open for business on Ja Morant. Anthony Davis initially seemed like a prime trade candidate as well, although a recent hand injury might force him to stay in Dallas through the deadline and re-evaluate his future in the offseason.

While it's increasingly becoming clearer which teams plan to be buyers and sellers ahead of the deadline, the Sixers have been noticeably absent from the rumor mill. The notebooks from HoopsHype's Michael Scotto often reference damn near half the league, but the Sixers haven't made a single appearance. The biggest move they've made thus far this season was having their G League affiliate acquire the rights to Charles Bassey and then trade him away two weeks later.

The lack of Sixers buzz may partially be driven by their place in their standings. After Monday's win over the Toronto Raptors, they're fifth in the East at 22-16 and are only 2.5 games behind the second-seeded New York Knicks. However, they're also only 3.5 games ahead of the ninth-seeded Atlanta Hawks. The Brooklyn Nets, Washington Wizards and Indiana Pacers are likely too far gone to get back into the postseason race, but there's still a huge cluster of teams in the middle of the conference.

That isn't the only reason for the dearth of Sixers trade rumors, though. Their top-heavy salary structure and Quentin Grimes' veto rights will likely make it difficult for them to pull off anything beyond a minor move this season.

Why we might not get many Sixers trade rumors

At the moment, the Sixers have $194.6 million in salary on their books and $194.9 million for luxury-tax/apron purposes. That leaves them less than $1.1 million below the first apron and roughly $12.9 million below the second apron.

The Sixers aren't hard-capped at either apron, but their proximity to the first apron will limit their trade options. If they take back more salary than they send out in any trade, they won't be allowed to cross the first apron at any point between now and June 30. So, while they're technically allowed to take back more salary than they send out, they can't take back $1.1 million more than they trade away unless they dump salary elsewhere first.

Combine that with a top-heavy salary structure, and it'll be tough sledding for the Sixers to make major alterations to their roster at the trade deadline.

Joel Embiid, Paul George and Tyrese Maxey are all on long-term max contracts and are each earning $37 million or more this season. Their fourth-highest-paid player is rookie guard VJ Edgecombe at $11.1 million. Maxey, who's having an All-NBA-caliber season, is likely all but untouchable. The same presumably goes for Edgecombe. Meanwhile, Embiid and George have two of the worst contracts in the league. The Sixers might have to attach assets to get off either one, which wouldn't be a worthwhile endeavor at this point.

If the Sixers aren't willing or able to move off any of their four highest-paid-players, that alone will restrict their trade options. They don't have anyone else earning more than $10 million. Quentin Grimes ($8.7 million) and Kelly Oubre Jr. ($8.4 million) are their next-highest-paid players, although Andre Drummond ($5.0 million) could be expendable as well.

Since Grimes signed his qualifying offer rather than coming to terms on a long-term deal with the Sixers in restricted free agency this past offseason, he has the right to veto any trade involving him this year. He'd lose his Bird rights upon getting traded to another team, so his new team could offer him a starting salary worth no more than 120 percent of what he's earning this year (roughly $10.5 million) unless it had cap space or could sign him with the non-taxpayer mid-level exception.

Both Oubre and Drummond are in the final year of their respective contracts and don't have the ability to veto a trade. But even if the Sixers combine the two, they'd only be able to acquire someone in the $13-14 million range. That puts them out of contention not only for stars like Morant or Davis, but even potential trade targets in the $20-25 million range.

The Sixers also need to be mindful about not hard-capping themselves at the first apron if they're hoping to use their taxpayer mid-level exception to convert one (or more) of their two-way signees to a standard contract. The last thing they'd want to do is box themselves in and limit how much they'd be able to offer.

How the luxury tax factors in

The luxury tax also looms large over the Sixers heading into the trade deadline. They're currently $7 million over the $187.9 million tax line, although they'd go even further into the tax if (when?) they convert Dominick Barlow from a two-way deal to a standard contract.

Salary-dumping Oubre would help them get under the tax line for now, and they could look to dump Eric Gordon's $2.3 million contract to gain even more breathing room. However, it's hard to make an on-court case for doing the former unless the Sixers get legitimate assets in return. Dumping a rotation player for financial reasons would send the wrong message to the rest of this roster, particularly in the midst of a bounce-back season.

With that said, the Sixers have not finished over the tax line since 2021-22. In each of the past three seasons, they finished less than $1 million below. Last season, they spent two second-round picks to dump KJ Martin's $8 million contract even though it was fully non-guaranteed for the 2025-26 campaign. In other words, it was a shameless tax dump.

Since the Sixers haven't paid the tax for three straight years, they've already reset the clock on the more punitive repeater tax. They can't be subject to the repeater tax until 2028-29 at the earliest, and that's only if they finish above the tax line this season and each of the next two years as well. By that point, George's contract will have already expired, while Embiid will be in the final year of his max extension.

If the Sixers can find a taker for George or Embiid ahead of the trade deadline without having to offload assets, that would open larger opportunities for them. Otherwise, they'll likely be limited to some moves around the margins and perhaps a salary dump to help them duck the tax for the fourth straight season.

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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