The Philadelphia 76ers may have made their LeBron James pursuit a little more complicated without ever actually turning away from it.
While some teams have sat on their hands and waited to see where James lands in free agency, Philly went ahead and filled out its roster. The result: Dean Wade, Anfernee Simons and Ariel Hukporti are now in the mix, and the financial path to James got tighter.
From a cap standpoint, that matters. ESPN’s Bobby Marks laid it out in a Friday article: "The 76ers split up their $15 million non-tax midlevel exception into Dean Wade and Anfernee Simons," Marks explains.
"They then used part of the $5.5 million biannual exception to sign Ariel Hukporti. As a result of the three signings, Philadelphia has only the $3.9 million veterans exception available."
That $3.9 million veterans exception is the same route a few other teams are likely to use if they end up signing James, so Philadelphia isn’t uniquely boxed in. But the Sixers did choose to spend those other roster-building tools before knowing whether LeBron would be part of the plan.
That’s the gamble. James has been taking his time, which makes the patient, wait-and-see strategy hard to pull off. Philly didn’t go that route.
Money still isn’t the main thing driving James this offseason, but it remains part of the equation because it shapes what a team can build around him. If he does wind up in Philadelphia, he’d have a stronger supporting cast with some new faces around him. He just wouldn’t be arriving with a big contract attached.
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