Philadelphia 76ers: A Tobias Harris Gordon Hayward trade could free the full MLE

According to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia 76ers want to sign P.J. Tucker, the soon-to-be one-time member of the Miami Heat, to a three-year, $30 million contract.

The problem? Well, other than the fact that Tucker would be literally in his 40s when his proposed contract comes to an end, the Sixers can’t offer the NBA’s reigning sneaker king a contract with an AAV of $10 million because the team is well over the salary cap and are even over the luxury cap threshold by $4.439 million.

Why, you may ask, is that last number relevant? Well, because if the Sixers can just clear that number, the full mid-level exception, worth $10.264 million opened up to them, instead of the $6.339 million MLE afforded to teams who are in the tax. For the Sixers to sign Tucker at the number Pompey suggested, that is quite literally the only path to bet a deal done, which is why the Sixers are reportedly looking to move off of Matisse Thybulle, and his $4.479 million cap hit to effectively afford themselves the full MLE, assuming, of course, they turn down Shake Milton’s option for the 2022-23 season.

Is trading away a two-time All-Defensive team player to effectively free up cap space to sign a 37-year-old forward a good idea? I mean, it’s certainly an idea, but it’s not the only one. No, the Sixers could always release Danny Green in a move that would free up $10 million, or they could simply call up the Charlotte Hornets to see if they have any interest in expanding a Gordon Hayward cap dump the team is reportedly looking to execute into that three-team deal that ships Tobias Harris elsewhere and bring the Bulter legend back to South Philly alongside $7 million in cap savings.

A Hayward-Tucker-Embiid frontcourt could be money for the Philadelphia 76ers.

On paper, Gordon Hayward and Tobias Harris are relatively similar players. They both stand around 6-foot-7, weigh roughly 225 pounds, and average right around 18 points per game on their current team. Statistically speaking, Hayward has the slight edge in terms of 3-point shooting and assists, Harris is a better rebounder, and both of the players’ teams probably wish they didn’t have them under contract at their current cap hit, or at all, really.

And yet, there is a difference between Hayward and Harris that could prove gigantic for a team like the Philadelphia 76ers who want to play P.J. Tucker at the four: Hayward is a small forward and thus, can play alongside Tucker and Embiid in the same frontcourt.

While Hayward isn’t an elite defender by any means, he’s at least more athletically compatible to play the small forward spot than Harris, especially if Tucker is putting it upon himself to take on the best opposing scorers two-through-four. While Hayward isn’t an elite 3-point shooter in terms of average or attempts per game, he at least put up one more shot per game than Harris and generally seemed to embrace his role as a supplementary ball-handler off of a young guard more than Harris did with Tyrese Maxey in South Philly.

And the best part? Even if the Sixers have to trade pick 23 to facilitate a deal with Charlotte, which they would then parlay to get off of Harris’ contract, that $7 million saved would free up the full MLE for Tucker and allow the team to keep Matisse Thybulle…or trade him for a different player if they so choose.

In an ideal world, the Philadelphia 76ers wouldn’t have Tobias Harris or Gordon Hayward as one of their starting forwards in 2022-23. If P.J. Tucker truly is the plan at power forward, a player like Cam Johnson, who is a prototypical 3-and-D wing, would make a ton more sense, as would a player like Kenrich Williams at a much lower price point. But if the team has to choose between the two, or really choose between another season of Harris or Hayward and the retention of Matisse Thybulle, then really the choice shouldn’t really be a choice at all; make the deal and see what happens.