During his latest Bleacher Report live stream, NBA insider Jake Fischer said the Philadelphia 76ers may be looking to dump some salary to make room for restricted free agent Quentin Grimes.
“There has been buzz all summer long about the Sixers looking to potentially move one of, if not both, Andre Drummond and/or Kelly Oubre,” Fischer said.
He added that trading one of these players would “open up some more wiggle room for Philadelphia to be able to pay Grimes a little bit more [money].”
The Sixers are in a tight spot financially. Both Drummond ($5 million) and Oubre ($8.38 million) picked up their player options for next season and will be free to sign anywhere after that.
This isn’t the first time Philly has tried to move Drummond. The team reportedly shopped him around in early July after he exercised his option, but couldn’t find any takers.
Drummond stepped up when Joel Embiid was hurt last season. He played about 19 minutes per game across 40 contests, starting 23 of them. He put up decent numbers – 7.3 points and 7.8 rebounds per game while shooting 50%.
This is actually Drummond’s second go-round with the Sixers. He first joined them in 2021 before being shipped to Brooklyn in the James Harden deal.
Oubre was even more productive last season. He started 57 of his 60 games, averaging 15.1 points and 6.1 rebounds. He also posted career highs with 1.8 assists, 1.5 steals, and 34.6 minutes per game.
His three-point shooting was pretty awful though – just 29.3%. Still, he remained one of Philly’s most reliable scorers on the wing. He even dropped 30 points against Brooklyn in February.
The Sixers really can’t afford to lose Grimes at this point. They already extended an $8.7 million qualifying offer to him earlier this offseason.
Grimes showed flashes of brilliance last season. He averaged a career-high 22.4 points while shooting 47.7% from the field. At one point, he joined some elite company – becoming only the fourth Sixers guard ever to average 28.5 points over a 10-game stretch. The others? Tyrese Maxey, Allen Iverson, and Hal Greer.
The situation is even more urgent after Philadelphia lost Guerschon Yabusele to the New York Knicks. The breakout forward signed a two-year, $12 million deal in free agency.
Money is tight in Philly. According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks, about 77% of the Sixers’ payroll (roughly $146 million) is already committed to just three players – Embiid, Maxey, and Paul George.
