Why the Mid-Level Exception Will Dictate the Sixers' Interest in Bringing Back Oubre, Grimes

The Sixers were in training camp by the time one of the staples of their roster for the 2025-26 season was settled.

That's unusual and suboptimal.

It was also part of doing business.

Throughout the summer, it was reported that Qeuntin Grimes' camp felt he was worth a deal paying $30 million annually. Ambitious jockeying for a player who put together merely a post-trade-deadline period of play good enough to warrant such a bold ask.

And yet, perhaps it projected what Grimes and his team felt deep down, that he capitalized on a rare situation and they weren't particularly confident he'd be able to or have the opportunity to string together such high-level play again any time soon. So shoot for the moon.

History shows no one came calling at that price. The Sixers extended the qualifying offer. Grimes' party waited until the final moment before agreeing to stay in Philadelphia on that one-year pact.

It was probably Daryl Morey's last objectively excellent decision as the team's president of basketball operations.

So now Grimes heads into unrestricted free agency after a very up-and-down season in Philadelphia.

There likely will be no such waiting game this time around.

Rewind a year. The Sixers did not use any mid-level exception money last summer. They signed Dominick Barlow and Jabari Walker to two-way contracts. They used minimum contracts on Trendon Watford and Kyle Lowry. They drafted and signed Johni Broome using a second-round pick exception. Their big addition was obviously drafting V.J. Edgecombe on a rookie-scale exception.

They did not use any mid-level exception money.

Andre Drummond and Kelly Oubre Jr. helped solidify some more bodies on the roster by opting into their deals to stay in Philadelphia.

But there will be no player options for those two rotation mainstays to decide upon this summer. They're unrestricted free agents, just like Grimes is.

The Sixers will have full Bird rights on Oubre and Grimes, and early Bird rights on Drummond.

They can bring those guys back without requiring cap space.

Only the Sixers and new President of Basketball Operations Mike Gansey know how they feel about those three players, but they'll have a few roads from which they can choose.

It's important to address the roster parameters before any further discussion.

Unlike last summer, when the Sixers had open roster spots to fill just to meet the minimum as mandated by the NBA, they'll go into transaction season with a mostly full roster. Once they draft a prospect using the 2026 first-round pick they acquired in the Jared McCain trade or acquire an established player by trading that pick, they'll be at the 12-player minimum.

That means they'll have room for just three standard contracts at the opening bell of free agency, assuming they don't acquire multiple players in a trade between now and then.

At that point, they'll have a decision to make: Do the Sixers want to fill out the roster using the pools of money known as the mid-level exceptions and bi-annual exception?

This is where some complications present themselves.

The Sixers will go into free agency with about $26.2 million of space below the first apron. They could add reinforcements using up to the $15.048-million non-taxpayer mid-level exception. But spending more than the $6.065-million taxpayer mid-level exception to add to the roster would have to mean they're dipping into the non-taxpayer mid-level exception. At that point, they'd be hard-capped at the first apron, meaning their budget to make additive moves for the entirety of the 2026-27 season would be tht $26.2 million.

Fortunately, in that situation, they'd still be able to use the $5.478-million bi-annual exception. So the pool of money before they start dipping into veteran-minimum contracts would total about $20.5 million.

But if this made-over front office is anything like the one Morey left behind, chances are the Sixers would want more flexibility than to be hard-capped at the first apron.

That would limit their funds quite a bit.

Instead of the non-taxpayer mid-level exception, they could expand their budget for the 2026-27 season to roughly $39.2 million by only using the aforementioned taxpayer mid-level exception totaling a little more than $6 million. In using that, they'd be hard-capped at the second apron. More flexibility even if they are working under a hard cap.

Of course, there exists the possibility that they just like Grimes, Oubre and Drummond.

Perhaps you are over the experiences of watching Grimes, Oubre and Drummond. And perhaps the Sixers are, too. The reality is even if the Sixers want to move on from those guys too, the roster is so short of tradable salary that re-signing those guys with the intention of later trading them may be the best way to put Philadelphia in a position to make a real upgrade ahead of the trade deadline.

If they do like any of their own free agents enough to retain them, the Sixers could re-sign them using Bird rights. The Sixers would have to compete in an open market to bring them back, but they could match or exceed anything anyone else offers without restriction.

In the worst-case scenario, the Sixers could also renounce their rights to each player in anticipation of making other moves. If none of those ideas materialize, they could come back to any of Grimes, Oubre and Drummond. But having renounced their Bird rights, if any of their markets become inflated, the Sixers could lose their appetite for any reunions.

As we map out the options with Grimes, Oubre and Drummond in mind, we see that the order of operations will likely have to be such that the Sixers know who they'd use their exceptions on with confidence before they think about retaining any of their own free agents.

The moment they commit to any external free agents using the mid-level exceptions, they put limits on what they can spend to put Grimes, Oubre or Drummond back in Sixers uniforms.

So, with some hope surrounding Joel Embiid's knees, optimism about what Paul George still has left in the tank and excitement for the backcourt duo of Tyrese Maxey and Edgecombe, the Sixers shouldn't be passive players in free agency this time around. They won't be frozen by Grimes' restricted free agency.

And if the Sixers start spending dollars on external players early in free agency, we'll know that at least Grimes and Oubre are likely parts of the past.

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