With the 2024-25 NBA regular season tipping off in exactly one week, now seems like as good of a time as ever to check in on a handful of recently departed former Sixers. Let's see what some of our old friends are up to as they prepare for the upcoming season:
Sixers player previews: Critical questions and predictions for each member of the 2024-25 roster
Tobias Harris
Harris is set to make $232 million over a seven-year period after inking a two-year, $52 million deal to return to the Detroit Pistons, a remarkable accomplishment in itself. The Pistons have different hopes for Harris than the Sixers did: there are no championship aspirations or Jimmy Butler-sized shoes to fill, merely the hope that Harris can provide some stability on the offensive end with his scoring and shot-making.
Even still, Harris will be overpaid based on his overall on-court value, but for a Detroit team which entered the offseason with an enormous amount of cap space and plenty of young players fighting for minutes, there was little opportunity cost to giving Harris a few extra million dollars per year.
In Harris' first preseason game back with the Pistons, he excelled against the Phoenix Suns: in 16 minutes before intermission, Harris had already scored 20 points and grabbed four rebounds while shooting 8-11 from the field and 2-3 from beyond the arc. He did not shoot the ball as well in his second exhibition of the year, scoring six points on 3-9 shooting in 26 minutes. Harris did collect three steals and two blocks, though.
Paul Reed
Joining Harris in Detroit is Reed, the Sixers' former backup center who was replaced by Andre Drummond and then waived to clear enough cap space for the team to sign Caleb Martin. The Pistons used their financial flexibility to absorb Reed's unusual contact -- the deal has two remaining seasons worth about $15 million in total, but neither season's salary becomes guaranteed until mid-January of that season.
Claiming Reed was an absolute no-brainer for any team with enough space to absorb his 2024-25 salary -- they can always just waive him if they need to free up money, but at his current number, it is not remotely difficult for Reed to be worth what he is getting paid. The Pistons were -- lucky? -- to have had the worst record in the NBA last season, placing them atop the waiver order over the summer.
Reed has played in all four of the Pistons' preseason games thus far, though he has only logged 9.7 minutes per game and shot 3-14 from the field (21.4 percent). The challenge for Reed will be standing out in a frontcourt crowded with young players who all have more familiarity than he does in Detroit.
James Harden
As he prepares for his 16th NBA season, Harden is possibly set to take on an enormous role for the Los Angeles Clippers: not only has nine-time All-Star Paul George departed for Harden's old team, but fellow star wing Kawhi Leonard is -- once again -- already battling health concerns that could keep him sidelined.
The result: a 35-year-old Harden potentially being asked to do the things that made him a transcendent, transformative superstar five-plus years ago.
Harden, who inked a two-year, $70 million contract that includes a player option to return to Los Angeles over the summer, might be underrated in terms of current ability at this point. His athletic explosion has diminished drastically, but he remains one of the best off-dribble three-point shooters in the NBA thanks to his signature step-back move and remains a truly elite passer.
That combination gives him a high floor in terms of productivity, but the reduced ability to apply pressure to the rim as a driver will show itself if (when?) Harden is asked to take complete control of the Clippers' offense.
P.J. Tucker
Tucker, who will turn 40 years old in May, is entering the final season of the three-year, $33 million contract he signed with the Sixers in 2022. Tucker was a non-factor for most of his time with the Clippers last season after heading to Los Angeles following the first few games of the year.
When the Sixers traded Harden to the Clippers, it also made sure to swap Tucker's two remaining seasons for Nic Batum's expiring contract. That in itself might have been worth another first-round pick: not only is Batum a far superior player at this juncture of the two players' careers, but he did not carry an $11.5 million player option for 2024-25 like Tucker did. If the Sixers still had Tucker on their books, it would have been much more difficult for them to sign Martin in free agency last season.
Fast forward to the start of this year's training camp, and the Clippers announced that Tucker and the team agreed that the veteran would be away from the team for an indefinite period as the sides look "to find the best situation for him moving forward."
Mo Bamba
Bamba was serviceable as the Sixers' third-string center in 2023-24, but played far more than anticipated because of Joel Embiid's difficulties staying healthy. He received a tremendous opportunity to sign with the Clippers over the summer; even while playing on another veteran's minimum deal Bamba now has a chance for rotational minutes.
Bamba has yet to appear in the preseason due to a knee injury, but is reportedly expected to be ready for opening night. Once he is healthy, Bamba projects to be the Clippers' strongest option to back up starting center Ivica Zubac. Bamba's length and catch radius make him an intriguing fit next to -- and pick-and-roll partner for -- a player he barely spent time with last season in Harden.
De'Anthony Melton
Melton's second season with the Sixers was derailed by a series of back ailments that also damaged his market value. Melton had to settle for a one-year deal on the free agent market, though the Golden State Warriors will pay him nearly $13 million in 2024-25 as part of their mission to bolster their depth.
If Melton can stay healthy, as he did in his first year in Philadelphia, while playing up to his standards, he should be set to command significant multi-year contract offers next summer -- from Golden State and other teams.
In four preseason games, Melton has logged 18.0 minutes per contest, averaging nine points while shooting 36.4 percent from beyond the arc on 5.5 long-range attempts per game.
Melton has also averaged three assists per game during that limited action -- and if he can finally tap into the potential he was believed to have as a secondary ball-handler and shot creator, his value will skyrocket.
Buddy Hield
Golden State also acquired Hield as part of their offseason transformation, and the addition of one of the greatest three-point shooters in NBA history in Hield will help offset the loss of one of the greatest three-point shooters in NBA history in Klay Thompson, the franchise icon who now plays for the Dallas Mavericks.
Hield has had an outstanding start to the preseason. Last week, Hield torched his former team on the road, scoring 22 points on 8-9 shooting from the field and 6-7 shooting from beyond the arc against the Sacramento Kings. On Sunday night, Hield went 4-6 from three-point range against Harris, Reed and the Pistons.
How Warriors head coach Steve Kerr crafts roles in his rotation for Melton and Hield will be an interesting subplot over the first few weeks of the season. Both players should be locks for a healthy chunk of minutes on a nightly basis, but will either crack the starting lineup?
Jalen McDaniels
A failed trade deadline acquisition by the Sixers a couple of years ago, McDaniels has bounced around the league. He signed a two-year deal with the Toronto Raptors after his few months in Philadelphia, accumulated only 538 total minutes in Toronto in 2023-24 and was promptly traded to the Kings as salary filler in a financially-motivated deal.
On Monday, Shams Charania of ESPN reported that Sacramento was trading McDaniels and a second-round pick to the San Antonio Spurs -- essentially paying the Spurs to absorb the final season of McDaniels' contract.
Charania later reported the Spurs would waive McDaniels immediately following the trade, making the 26-year-old wing a free agent.
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