August 26, 2016
If you just looked at the trade, it appears as if the Sixers front office is partying like it’s 2014 all over again.
The Sixers announced today that the team acquired center Tibor Pleiss, two 2017 second-round draft picks, and cash considerations from the Utah Jazz in exchange for Kendall Marshall.
ANOTHER CENTER? Fear not, the Sixers are likely to waive Pleiss, according to Comcast SportsNet's Jessica Camerato. He'll join Danny Granger, Earl Clark, Gerald Wallace, and a host of other recent players who were Sixers that never stepped foot in Philly (unless they came back with another team).
Unlike yesterday’s Carlos Ruiz trade, the motivations behind this deal were purely financial. If Pleiss is waived as expected, the Sixers can make room to add point guard Cat Barber, who reportedly agreed to a partially guaranteed deal earlier this summer. That deal hasn’t been made official yet because the Sixers were already at the offseason roster limit of 20 players.
The Sixers are taking on salary to acquire those picks. The 7’2” Pleiss has two years left on his deal, $3 million guaranteed for this season and $500,000 of a potential $3.1 million guaranteed for 2017-18 (per the Vertical). With the Sixers still way under the salary floor, that money is essentially chump change.
The Jazz, who already waived Marshall and his non-guaranteed $2 million in what has to be some sort of record, are now about $15 million under the cap. While the cost of two picks might seem high for shedding Pleiss’ salary, the Jazz already have a very deep roster (like, those guys are going to be good this year) and plenty of future picks still rolling in.
The Jazz were scheduled to have four second-round picks, and according to PhillyMag’s Derek Bodner, the Sixers will receive the best and worst of those picks (New York, Detroit, Golden State, and Utah’s own). An early guess would have the Sixers acquiring the Knicks and Warriors picks, respectively, after everything shakes out.
The Sixers’ own second-round pick is headed to New Orleans as part of the Ish Smith trade. And while the move won’t exactly rock the NBA, the Sixers did a good bit of business in late August.
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