Philadelphia 76ers: Is there still a path to P.J. Tucker post-draft?

After a month of speculation, the 2022-23 Philadelphia 76ers‘ picture is slowly coming into focus.

Prospect profiles were written, hypothetical drafts were mocked, and Daryl Morey’s squad left the 2022 NBA Draft with… well, with no one really.

That’s right, despite having the 23rd overall pick thanks to the Brooklyn Nets’ decision to defer their procurement of Philly’s pick until 2023, the Sixers opted to trade the selection, alongside Danny Green for De’Anthony Melton, the 24-year-old previously employed by the Memphis Grizzlies.

While the team did add two more players after pick 58 was announced, signing Michael Foster Jr. as a UDFA and Julian Champagnie to a two-way contract, the defining moments of the offseason will now come in free agency, where Daryl Morey will have his final opportunity to fine-tune the roster heading into training camp.

Which brings us to the big question at hand: P.J. Tucker, or should I say the team’s ability to sign P.J. Tucker to the three-year, $30 million deal he reportedly wants, according to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. With Danny Green gone and De’Antony Melton forthcoming once the NBA front office okays the deal, is there still a path to acquire the NBA’s reigning Sneaker King?

The Philadelphia 76ers still have a path to acquire P.J. Tucker.

In order to unlock the full, non-taxpayer mid-level exception, the Philadelphia 76ers need to free up $4.349 million to get under the NBA luxury tax threshold, according to Spotrac.

Sounds easy enough, right? I mean, Daryl Morey has already submitted a trade, pick 23, and Danny Green for De’Anthony Melton that will trim down the total taxable money by $2.75 million. How hard could it be to get off that last $1.69 million? Unfortunately, pretty hard, as the Sixers don’t just need to get under the tax apron to have access to the non-taxpayer MLE, they need to remain under the apron after using the $10.669 million exception. So the Sixers don’t need to free up $2-ish million but more like $12-ish million, which isn’t impossible but isn’t easy either.

Exclusively focusing on the margins, the Sixers would need to move off of Furkan Korkmaz and Matisse Thybulle without taking back salaries, release Isaiah Joe from his unguaranteed contract, and then decline Shake Milton’s team option to free up roughly $13 million, which would unlock the full non-taxpayer mid-level exception and thus open the door for P.J. Tucker.

That sounds good, right? In a way it doesn’t… at least until you realize that the team then only has 10 players under contract with an inability to add any more players above the veteran minimum without exceeding the salary cap. While a team can win that way, it would severely limit the team’s optionality over the course of the season, which, considering Tucker will be 40 when his desired contract expires, probably isn’t an ideal situation.

Disheartening? You bet, but fortunately, there are two more options that could theoretically open up the Sixers’ optionality without having to RKO a third of the team: Trade Tobias Harris and/or sign James Harden to a long-term extension for roughly $30 million a year.

Are either of those options realistic? The latter more than the former, but hey, if Daryl Morey can secure the services of Melton for a first-round pick and Danny Green’s contract, maybe he can convince Harden to take a little off the beard in the name of responsible team-building. Again, it’s probably not going to happen, but hey, one can dream, right?

So there you go; while the Philadelphia 76ers could theoretically add P.J. Tucker to their roster if they get either really lucky or really hyper-focused on him specifically, doing so would likely come at the expense of their depth, which, for a player already in his later 30s, probably isn’t the bet to make when there are younger but similarly talented performers who could be had for the regular taxpayer MLE.