The 2025 NBA draft is now over, which means the start of free agency is just around the corner. The Sixers aren’t wasting any time, though.

On Friday, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype reported that Andre Drummond will be picking up his $5.0 million player option for next season, which he and the Sixers had been telegraphing for months. The Sixers also declined their $2.3 million team option on Jared Butler and declined their $1.9 million team option on Justin Edwards, only to re-sign him to a three-year deal. Reports also indicate Kelly Oubre Jr. is also picking up his $8.3 million player option.

The Sixers do still have business to attend to, most notably the upcoming free agency of Quentin Grimes (restricted) and Guerschon Yabusele (unrestricted). They have full Bird rights on Grimes, so they’re able to match any offer sheet that he signs up to a max contract, but they only have non-Bird rights on Yabusele, which means they can’t offer him a starting salary worth more than 120 percent of a minimum contract. Realistically, they’ll have to use their mid-level exception to stand any chance of re-signing him.

If the Sixers use the $14.1 million non-taxpayer mid-level exception, they’ll be hard-capped at the $195.9 million first apron. That would make it virtually impossible for them to re-sign Grimes without dumping significant salary elsewhere, which is likely a non-starter. Instead, they figure to use the $5.7 million taxpayer MLE—which will hard-cap them at the $207.8 million second apron—whether to re-sign Yabusele or land another free agent.

The Sixers’ first choice may be to use the taxpayer MLE on Yabusele. But if he lands a richer offer elsewhere, they could still have some enticing targets to pursue in free agency. Power forward looms as their most glaring need at the moment, although a particular pair of swingmen could prove too alluring to turn down if they were willing to sign in Philly.

As our own Paul Hudrick can attest, I’ve had Jake LaRavia’s name circled for months as a potential TMLE target.

Because the Memphis Grizzlies declined LaRavia’s fourth-year team option before they traded him to the Sacramento Kings in February, the Kings are not allowed to pay him more than roughly $5.2 million, the value of his declined option. They can’t even use the non-taxpayer MLE to sign him for more.

Math-inclined readers might recognize that $5.7 million is greater than $5.2 million. So, the Sixers—or any other non-Grizzlies suitor—will have an inherent financial advantage over the Kings if they’re willing to dangle their full MLE at LaRavia. He’s almost the polar opposite of Yabusele stylistically, but he could fill a much-needed void on the Sixers regardless.

The 6-foot-8, 260-pound Dancing Bear relies on his strength to gobble up rebounds and feast on the interior. He shot 61.6 percent from inside the three-point arc and hauled in 5.6 boards in only 27.1 minutes per game last year. Yabusele did shoot a career-high 38.0 percent from three-point range as well, although it’s unclear how much more room he has to grow as a shooter since he’s heading into his age-30 season.

LaRavia won’t turn 24 until November, and he just drilled a career-high 42.3 percent of his three-point attempts last year split between the Grizzlies and Kings. He also averaged a career-high 2.4 assists per game despite playing only 20.4 minutes. He isn’t as impactful as Yabusele on the glass, but he could be a lethal floor-spacer alongside the Sixers’ Big 3.

Between Tyrese Maxey, Jared McCain, VJ Edgecombe and Grimes (assuming they re-sign him), the Sixers are relatively set in the backcourt. They also figure to bring back both Kyle Lowry and Eric Gordon (player option), so they seemingly don’t have much room in their rotation for another guard.

They might be able to make an exception for a sharpshooter like Luke Kennard, though.

Much like Seth Curry and JJ Redick on past iterations of the Sixers, Kennard would be on the team for one reason and one reason only: bombing away from deep. He’s shot above 43 percent from downtown in each of the past five seasons, and he led the league in three-point shooting percentage both in 2021-22 (44.9 percent) and 2022-23 (49.4 percent).

It’s not like Kennard is doing that on low volume, either. He’s averaging 4.5 three-point attempts per game over his eight-year NBA career. Although he doesn’t get to the free-throw line much, he’s an elite shooter there as well (88.1 percent for his career).

Kennard is a glaring target on defense—he ranked in the 9th percentile of Dunks and Threes’ defensive estimated plus/minus last year—so he might be more of an 82-game player than a 16-game one. Still, given the success that Joel Embiid has previously had with two-man actions when paired with an elite sharpshooter, the Sixers might entertain running that strategy back with Kennard this summer.

The game of free-agent musical chairs ran out on Gary Trent Jr. last offseason. He wound up settling for a one-year, veteran-minimum contract with the Milwaukee Bucks, where he quickly cemented himself as one of the best free-agent signings of the summer.

Although Trent started in only nine of his 74 regular-season appearances, he averaged 11.1 points and 2.4 made three-pointers in only 25.6 minutes per game while shooting a sizzling 41.6 percent from deep. He wound up supplanting Taurean Prince in the Bucks’ starting lineup in Game 3 of their first-round playoff loss to the Indiana Pacers, and he averaged 18.8 points on 51.6 percent shooting, 4.4 made threes and 2.6 steals across that series. In other words, he likely earned himself a hefty raise this offseason.

If the Bucks aren’t able to re-sign Trent, he should have plenty of suitors in free agency, which might put him out of the Sixers’ realistic price range. Like Kennard, he wouldn’t fill a major position of need for them, either. But if head coach Nick Nurse is committed to experimenting with three-guard, small-ball lineups, adding Trent to the core with Maxey, McCain, Edgecombe and Grimes could give the Sixers one of the most versatile backcourts int the NBA.

The big question is whether Trent would be open to a reunion with Nurse, with whom he overlapped for two-plus years in Toronto. According to Eric Koreen of The Athletic, Trent said he had gotten used to Nurse’s “criticism coming out in the media before Nurse told him in person,” which might not have him keen on teaming back up with his former head coach.

But if Nurse and Trent can smooth over any hiccups in their past relationship, it would at least be worth an exploratory phone call. Getting him at the taxpayer MLE would be a steal value-wise, even if the Sixers have bigger needs elsewhere.

Trent isn’t the only former Raptors player whom the Sixers could pursue this offseason. He also isn’t the only former Raptors player who seemingly had tension with Nurse in Toronto.

During a podcast appearance in 2023, Boucher bemoaned how “everybody” on the Raptors bench should have received more minutes under Nurse. That season, all four of Scottie Barnes, OG Anunoby, Fred VanVleet and Pascal Siakam played at least 34 minutes per game, leaving precious few opportunities for the rest of the team.

Luckily, Nurse appears to have learned his lesson. Leading up to the draft, Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports wrote that “the Sixers’ message about getting younger and more athletic is believed to extend to how the coaching staff will approach the start to next season.” The 32-year-old Boucher wouldn’t help in the age department, but he would add a jolt of athleticism to their frontcourt.

This past season, Boucher averaged 10.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.4 made three-pointers in only 17.2 minutes per game off the bench in Toronto. He also shot 36.3 percent from deep, the second-best mark of his eight-year career.

Boucher’s familiarity with Nurse’s scheme might help him hit the ground running in Philadelphia… provided the two could smooth things out behind the scenes first.

Had Larry Nance Jr. not broken his hand leading up to the trade deadline, I’m fairly convinced the Sixers would have tried to trade KJ Martin and Eric Gordon for him. (Those two were nearly a dollar-for-dollar salary match.) Instead, their season went further off the rails and they finally committed to tanking a youth movement.

After spending a second-round pick on Johni Broome on Thursday, the Sixers don’t have a clear need for another undersized center. They already have Broome, Drummond and Adem Bona as potential backups to Embiid. At 6-foot-8 and 245 pounds, Nance has the frame of a power forward, but he’s found more success as a small-ball 5 in recent years.

However, if the Sixers plan to flip Drummond, they can’t go into the season relying on a second-round rookie and a second-year second-rounder as their primary backups to Embiid. Nance, who’s entering his 11th NBA season, has the veteran know-how to give them a change-of-pace option in the frontcourt.

In only 19.3 minutes per game with the Atlanta Hawks last year, Nance averaged 8.5 points, 4.3 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.4 treys. He isn’t much of a shot-blocker, but he did drill a career-high 44.7 percent of his three-point attempts during his lone season in Atlanta.

Beyond size, health is the biggest concern for Nance. He hasn’t played more than 65 games in a season since the 2018-19 campaign, and he appeared in only 24 this past season. The Sixers need a more reliable option behind Embiid, who’s a virtual lock to miss at least 15-20 games of every regular season moving forward.

If the Sixers are aiming to diversify their frontcourt looks and don’t have faith in Broome playing a big role as a rookie, though, Nance could fill the small-ball void for them.

Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Salary Swish and salary-cap information via RealGM.

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