After an explosive start to their offseason, the Philadelphia 76ers still have work to do. They currently have 13 players on standard contracts and two open roster spots, one of which they'll have to fill by the start of the 2024-25 NBA season.
Sixers president Daryl Morey plans to keep an open roster spot heading into the season to maintain flexibility for any midseason needs that arise. That means the Sixers will likely sign only one more player over the coming weeks, barring an unexpected development.
Based on their current depth chart, another power forward seems like the most glaring need. They figure to start three interchangeable wings—Paul George, Kelly Oubre Jr. and Caleb Martin—between All-Star point guard Tyrese Maxey and All-Star center Joel Embiid, but KJ Martin and Ricky Council IV are the only two players behind them at those spots. Meanwhile, they're now stacked in the backcourt after re-signing Kyle Lowry and adding Eric Gordon, Reggie Jackson and rookie guard Jared McCain this offseason.
A combo power forward/center might be the way to go, as rookie second-round pick Adem Bona is the Sixers' only big man behind Embiid and Andre Drummond. Given Embiid's injury history, it would behoove the Sixers to find another player who can soak up spot minutes at the 5. KJ Martin could be a small-ball option in that regard, but at 6'6" and 215 pounds, he wouldn't provide much rebounding or rim protection against a traditional big.
With that in mind, these five remaining options on the free-agent market could be of interest to the Sixers.
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Marcus Morris, PF
The Sixers signed Morris to a one-year, minimum-salary contract last offseason, only to ship him to the Cleveland Cavaliers at the trade deadline as part of their three-team deal for Buddy Hield. Despite that, the Philadelphia native sounds open to a reunion.
“Being home … I just felt so free,” Morris told Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. “I just felt so much love. So it’s like, yeah, man, I would definitely entertain coming back.
Morris averaged 6.7 points on 43.9% shooting, 2.9 rebounds and 1.0 three-pointers in only 17.2 minutes per game with the Sixers last season. While the soon-to-be 35-year-old is now in the twilight of his NBA career, he proved both with the Sixers and Cavaliers that he can still help out in short bursts.
Morris has been a below-average rebounder in recent years, so he wouldn't help the Sixers address that weakness of theirs. However, he has knocked down more than 40% of his three-point attempts over the past five seasons. Having that type of a floor-spacer next to Embiid, Maxey and George could further bend defenses toward their breaking point.
Dāvis Bertāns, PF
Speaking of floor-spacers, Bertāns is one of the best remaining options on the free-agent market. He's a career 39.6% shooter from deep who averaged 2.4 three-pointers in only 20.8 minutes per game in 28 outings with the Charlotte Hornets last season.
Granted, Bertāns would be even less of a help in the rebounding department than Morris. He has yet to average more than 4.5 rebounds per game in any of his eight NBA seasons, and he's been toward the bottom of the league in both offensive and defensive rebounding percentage for most of his career.
At this point of the offseason, the Sixers might not care about that. They wouldn't be signing Bertāns to play him heavy minutes, particularly in the playoffs. He'd mostly be a regular-season sharpshooter off the bench. Anything he'd give them beyond that is gravy.
According to Pompey, Bertāns is on the Sixers' radar as a potential option. It's hard to imagine him getting more than a minimum-salary contract from any team, particularly at this point of the offseason, but the Sixers might prefer someone who's slightly less of a liability on defense and on the glass.
Robert Covington, PF
Covington's NBA career took off with the mid-2010s "Process" Sixers, which turned him into a fan favorite in Philadelphia. He returned to the Sixers last season as part of the James Harden trade, although he played only 26 games before a knee injury caused him to miss the final few months of the year.
Covington is a much streakier shooter than either Morris or Bertāns, but he's far more impactful on defense than either one. He ranked in the 96th percentile leaguewide in Dunks and Threes' estimated defensive plus/minus last season, and he has yet to dip below the 74th percentile in that metric throughout his decade-long NBA career.
Covington has never been an elite on-ball stopper, but he remains one of the league's more effective off-ball disrupters. He averaged 3.0 deflections last season—which put him in a six-way tie for eighth leaguewide—and 1.3 steals despite playing only 16.8 minutes per game with the Sixers and Los Angeles Clippers.
The main question with Covington is whether he's over the knee issues that sidelined him last season. If so, another reunion could be worth pursuing.
Guerschon Yabusele, PF
Yabusele hasn't played in the NBA since the 2018-19 season. The No. 16 overall pick of the 2016 NBA draft has spent the past few years playing for Real Madrid, although he appears open to returning to the Association.
His performance during the 2024 Paris Olympics could help him earn that chance.
Yabusele averaged 14.0 points on 51.9% shooting, 3.3 rebounds and 1.0 three-pointers in only 23.3 minutes per game throughout the tournament. He had 22 points against Canada in the quarterfinals, 17 against Germany in the semifinals and 20 against Team USA in the gold-medal game.
According to longtime NBA insider Marc Stein, Yabusele has one year remaining on his contract with Real Madrid, which contains a $2.5 million NBA buyout. Teams can contribute $850,000 to that without having it count as salary on their books, but it's unclear whether Yabusele would cover the rest if he has to settle for a minimum-salary contract in the NBA.
The 6'8" forward isn't a high-volume three-point shooter or rebounder, but the fight he showed against NBA players throughout the Olympics could merit another look at him.
Cedi Osman, SF/PF
Osman is slightly smaller than the other options presented here, but he's less of a glaring defensive minus than a pure sharpshooter like Bertāns. He was in the 17th percentile of Dunks and Threes' defensive EPM last season with the San Antonio Spurs, but he was in the 52nd percentile the year before with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Osman averaged at least 10 points per game in every season from 2018-19 through 2021-22, although his scoring average has dropped over the past few years as his minutes began to decline as well. He did knock down 38.9% of his 3.1 three-point attempts per game with the Spurs last year and 37.2% of his 4.1 attempts per game with Cleveland in 2022-23.
More importantly, the Cavaliers outscored opponents by 7.1 points per 100 possessions with Osman on the floor in 2022-23. That was Cleveland's first year with Donovan Mitchell in the fold, which suggests Osman can be a legitimately impactful bench player on a star-studded team.
Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac and salary-cap information via RealGM. All odds via FanDuel Sportsbook.
