July 12, 2024
Bill Streicher/USA TODAY Sports
Former Sixers guard James Harden agreed to a two-year, $70 million deal to remain with the Los Angeles Clippers earlier this month.
While nearly all of our coverage during this NBA offseason has centered around the moves the Sixers have and have not made, there are plenty of former Sixers who have inked new deals with other teams this offseason.
Let's check in on some old friends who have cashed in this summer:
Sixers free agency primer: Literally everything you need to know
Harden, whose brutal and ugly exit from Philadelphia was largely sparked by contentious and unproductive contract negotiations, appears to have had a much easier time coming to terms on a new deal with the Los Angeles Clippers.
Harden inked a two-year contract worth $70 million to remain with the Clippers -- even as Paul George spurned them for Harden's old team -- on a deal that contains a player option for the second season. After all of the mess stemming from Harden desiring a long-term commitment, he could very well become a free agent once again next summer.
The 10-time All-Star guard had a terrific year in 2023-24, though the Clippers did not accomplish much from a team perspective. The transition was initially difficult, then the team got red hot and looked like a genuine championship contender, but fell back to earth in part due to injuries. George had one of the best seasons of his career from an efficiency standpoint, and Harden was a major reason why.
PG quick bucket 🪣
— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) April 3, 2024
Harden ➡️ PG pic.twitter.com/W37HwdEDza
Despite his flaws, Harden is without question still a very good player who the Clippers hope can work in tandem with Kawhi Leonard to ensure that they remain competitive in the Western Conference. The George-less Clippers could very well be a solid team, but it is nearly impossible to imagine them seriously contending.
There was a lot of speculation that Šarić could return to the Sixers on a veteran's minimum deal to help stabilize their frontcourt rotation, but that ultimately proved to be a poor valuation of his market: Šarić inked a two-year deal worth about $10.6 million with the Denver Nuggets -- the second season contains a player option -- to back up reigning NBA MVP Nikola Jokić.
The backup center spot has been a weakness of sorts for Denver in the regular season -- they typically use Aaron Gordon there once the lights are at their brightest -- so they hope that either Šarić or first-round draft pick DaRon Holmes II can help fill that void.
Šarić played in 64 games for the Golden State Warriors in 2023-24, but near the end of the season fell out of favor behind mainstay Kevon Looney and promising rookie Trayce Jackson-Davis.
The Sixers drafted Joe at No. 49 overall in the 2020 NBA Draft after seemingly issuing him a promise that the entire world knew about by the time the selection was official. His prolific three-point shooting, length and defensive instincts made him an intriguing prospect, but he logged fewer than 1,000 total minutes with the Sixers before being waived during training camp in 2022.
Joe was quickly scooped up by the Oklahoma City Thunder, and he has since become part of their young nucleus. Joe is one of the single best three-point marksmen in the entire NBA, combining elite accuracy with massive volume to help space the floor for Thunder perimeter stars Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams and become a significant weapon as a movement shooter.
100 seconds of Isaiah Joe hitting 3s while coming off screens pic.twitter.com/iYg5xcNpKL
— Jase (@jasehoops) July 10, 2024
Joe was rewarded for his breakout with a four-year, $48 million deal to remain in Oklahoma City that will kick in at the start of 2024-25. The final year of the deal contains a team option, but the first three years are fully guaranteed. It is a deserved payday for Joe, who will continue to grow as a featured role player on a serious title contender.
Milton departed Philadelphia last summer, inking a deal with the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Wolves ended up having a dream season of sorts, but 2023-24 was not that for Milton, who ended up being salary filler in a trade with the Detroit Pistons. Milton was bought out by the Pistons and signed a deal with the New York Knicks for the remainder of the season, where he saw little to no action.
Earlier this month, Milton agreed to be sign-and-traded from New York to the Brooklyn Knicks as part of the Mikal Bridges blockbuster trade, signing a three-year, $9.1 million deal with only one season of guaranteed money and being shipped to Brooklyn. Milton settling for such a team-friendly deal so early on in free agency indicates he had just about no market.
In five years with the Sixers, Milton shot 45.5 percent from the field and made 36.5 percent of his three-point tries. In his 48 games across three organizations in 2023-24, he shot just 40.5 percent from the field and only made 28.1 percent of his triples.
Shake Milton’s Sixers tenure is over after five seasons. Milton was an excellent pick by the Sixers at #54 in 2018. He gave the Sixers a few very productive years.
— Adam Aaronson (@SixersAdam) June 30, 2023
Milton was prone to big nights — I’ll never forget his 39-point game against the Clippers:pic.twitter.com/4jM7ybezgm
• Haywood Highsmith was briefly a developmental project of sorts for the Sixers, who converted the wing to a two-way contract during the 2018-19 season. Highsmith only logged five NBA appearances for the Sixers, and two years later found another NBA opportunity with the Miami Heat. He took full advantage, cementing himself as a viable rotation wing thanks to a very strong build which makes him an impressive defender and a shooting stroke that is improving enough to make him passable on the offensive end of the floor.
Watching Haywood Highsmith play defense is so fun pic.twitter.com/04TAwu5bIk
— John Jablonka (@JohnJablonka_) February 5, 2024
Highsmith was rewarded with a two-year, $10.8 million deal to return to the Heat. Highsmith logged 20.7 minutes per game and accumulated 26 starts last season -- both were far and away career-bests -- and one would imagine both of those figures will continue to skyrocket next year, particularly with Caleb Martin departing Miami and joining the Sixers.
• As they attempt to fill the void left with Martin's exodus, the Heat also signed veteran wing scorer Alec Burks on a one-year deal at the veteran's minimum.
The Sixers traded three second-round picks to Golden State for Burks and Glenn Robinson III at the 2020 NBA trade deadline, but neither player was able to lift the team out of a hellish season that ended with a first-round sweep at the hands of the Boston Celtics.
Burks will turn 33 years old later this month, but still can score. The question is whether or not he can add value to a team with any other facet of his game.
• Behind Šarić -- and perhaps Holmes as well -- in Denver's center depth chart will be veteran DeAndre Jordan, who for the third straight year has agreed to a minimum deal to serve as a locker room leader of sorts for the Nuggets. Jordan played in 16 regular season games for the Sixers in 2021-22 and started two games in the second round of that year's NBA Playoffs during Joel Embiid's absence.
Jordan logged just 396 total minutes for Denver in 2023-24.
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