Sixers' Current Salary Cap, Contracts, Draft Picks And More

As Austin promised in his introductory letter, we're going to have plenty of Sixers salary-cap coverage here, particularly leading up to key transaction periods such as the trade deadline and free agency. Consider this to be your Sixers salary-cap Bible.

We'll be updating this throughout the season whenever the Sixers make moves.

Sixers' Current Roster and Salaries

Player	2025-26 Salary
Joel Embiid	$55,224,526
Paul George	$51,666,090
Tyrese Maxey	$37,958,760
VJ Edgecombe	$11,108,880
Quentin Grimes	$8,741,209
Kelly Oubre Jr.	$8,382,150
Andre Drummond	$5,000,000
Jared McCain	$4,221,360
Trendon Watford	$2,461,463
Eric Gordon	$2,296,274
Kyle Lowry	$2,296,274
Justin Edwards	$2,048,494
Adem Bona	$1,955,377
Johni Broome	$1,272,870
Dominick Barlow	Two-way
Jabari Walker	Two-way
Hunter Sallis	Two-way
TOTAL	$194,633,727
TOTAL (TAX/APRON)	$194,881,507
SALARY CAP	$154,647,000
CAP ROOM	-$39,986,727
LUXURY TAX LINE	$187,895,000
LUXURY TAX ROOM	-$6,985,507
FIRST APRON	$195,945,000
FIRST APRON ROOM	$1,063,493
SECOND APRON	$207,824,000
SECOND APRON ROOM	$12,942,943

Curious why the Sixers have two different total payroll figures for salary-cap and luxury-tax/apron purposes? The TL;DR version: Blame Justin Edwards.

Since Edwards signed with the Sixers as an undrafted free agent, he's earning the minimum that someone with one year of NBA experience can earn. However, players with less than two years who sign with teams as free agents have the two-year, veteran-minimum salary replace their actual salary when it comes to tax and apron purposes.

In other words: For salary-cap purposes, Edwards has a cap hit of $2,048,494, which is the one-year, veteran-minimum salary. For tax/apron purposes, he has a cap hit of $2,296,274, which is the two-year, veteran-minimum salary.

Sixers' Salary-Cap Exceptions

The Sixers are currently less than $1.1 million below the $195.9 million first apron and $12.9 million below the $207.8 million second apron. They are not hard-capped at either apron at the moment.

Using the $14.1 million non-taxpayer mid-level exception or the $5.1 million bi-annual exception would hard-cap the Sixers at the first apron, which means they would not be allowed to have more than $195.9 million on their books between now and June 30. They would thus have to dump salary to use either exception.

Using the $5.7 million taxpayer mid-level exception would hard-cap the Sixers at the second apron. They do have enough space under the second apron to use it, although crossing the first apron would limit their flexibility in other ways. Notably, they wouldn't be able to take back more salary than they sent out in a trade, and they couldn't sign any player off the buyout market if they were previously earning more than the non-taxpayer MLE.

Notably, any contract signed with the taxpayer MLE cannot be more than two seasons in length. That's a change from the previous CBA, which allowed contracts signed with the taxpayer MLE to be up to three seasons in length. Deals signed with the taxpayer MLE can increase by no more than 5 percent year-over-year.

The taxpayer MLE will begin prorating downward by roughly $32,700 each day starting on Jan. 10. The Sixers can also use it as a trade exception, so they could acquire a player earning no more than the current value of the taxpayer MLE without needing to trade away a player for salary-matching purposes.

Sixers' Draft Picks

The Sixers currently owe their top-four-protected 2026 first-round pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder as Al Horford's parting gift to the franchise. If that pick doesn't convey, the Thunder will receive the Sixers' 2027 second-round pick instead.

The Sixers also owe a top-eight-protected 2028 first-round pick to the Brooklyn Nets from the Ben Simmons/James Harden trade. If that pick doesn't convey, the Nets will receive the Sixers' 2028 second-round pick instead.

That means the Sixers can trade the following first-round picks:

2026 PHI (protected 5-30)
2028 PHI (protected 9-30) OR 2028 LAC (fully unprotected)
2029 OR 2030 PHI (not both)
2031 PHI (if they don't trade their 2030 1st)
2032 PHI (if they don't trade their 2031 1st)

They can also trade first-round pick swaps in 2027, 2029, 2030, 2031 and/or 2032. In addition, they have the right to swap first-round picks with the Clippers in 2029 as long as the Clippers' pick doesn't land in the top three. They could trade those swap rights by essentially giving another team the ability to swap for the most favorable of those picks.

Since the Sixers' 2027 and 2028 second-round picks are conditionally tied up in the outstanding debts to OKC and Brooklyn, they cannot trade those picks at the moment. They can trade any of the following, though:

2027 GSW/PHX (more favorable)
2028 DET (protected 31-55)
2028 GSW
2029 PHI
2030 PHX/POR (more favorable)
2030 WAS
2031 PHI
2032 PHI

If (when?) the Sixers convey their 2026 first-round pick to the Thunder, they will be allowed to trade their 2027 second-rounder. And if the Sixers convey their 2028 first-round pick to the Nets in a few years, they'll regain the ability to trade their 2028 second-rounder as well.

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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