Sixers

Report: Sixers Not Interested in Trading for Bradley Beal

By Kyle Pagan

Published: Jun 14th, 2023 · 4:14 PM EDT

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Shams tweeted earlier that if the Wizards elect to begin a rebuild, Bradley Beal would be on the trading block. With the news came speculation that the Sixers would be interested in pairing Beal with Joel Embiid, but according to Kyle Neubeck at PhillyVoice that won’t be the case:

However, sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity insisted that the Sixers will not be pursuing Beal and are not interested in him as a long-term building block… Committing $200 million to a player over the next four years under a CBA that is punitive for expensive teams is not a route they’re looking to travel.

Two years ago, it would’ve been perfect. But now Beal’s 30, makes a shit ton of money, and with the new tax apron rule teams are penalized more than ever for spending an exorbitant amount of money.

Neubeck lays it out here:

A quick refresher: Teams over the second apron, $17.5 million above the tax line, will be unable to use the taxpayer midlevel exception, can’t use cash in trades, can’t sign most bought-out players, can’t aggregate salaries in trades starting in 2024, and can’t trade first-round picks seven years out. There are also new triggers for the NBA’s hard cap at the first apron level, making close salary-matching in trades much more essential.

Breaking News: The Sixers need depth. They’d still need depth around Beal and Embiid to be a Finals contender. In the past they’ve used different exceptions to sign Georges Niang, PJ Tucker, and Danuel House. If they sign Beal they’d be handicapped from doing almost anything else.

This is why, and bear with me, the more and more I read about the Sixers and the lack of chance they have to improve the more I want to punt on this season. I’ve already talked about it before. We don’t have to go through a Process again. Just a little Procedure:

https://twitter.com/kylepaganCB/status/1659991900240199681?s=20

Derek Bodner kind of agrees:

If the Sixers do lose Harden in free agency, I would honestly rather do the gap year / let Tobias Harris expire / evaluate Tyrese Maxey's long-term growth potential as a lead initiator rather than pursue a Beal trade.

— Derek Bodner (@DerekBodnerNBA) June 14, 2023

Think of this as our own I-95 rebuild. Where is the recycled Delco glass?