June 28, 2016
Besides Nerlens Noel, Hollis Thompson is longest-tenured player currently on the Sixers, something the Georgetown product probably didn’t expect upon joining the team’s training camp as a relative no-name back in 2013.
And because Noel sat out the entire 2013-14 season due to injury, Thompson has been playing for the Sixers the longest, the only player whose time on the floor has spanned the entire Process. In total, the 6’8” swingman has played 225 games in Philadelphia so far.
And according to Philly Mag’s Derek Bodner, Sixers president of basketball operations Bryan Colangelo won’t let Thompson out of that Hinkie Special just yet:
The #sixers are expected to pick up Hollis Thompson's team option of just over $1m for 2016-17, according to a source. Deadline is tomorrow.
— Derek Bodner (@DerekBodnerNBA) June 29, 2016
In 2016-17 Thompson is slated to make $1,015,696 (per Basketball Insiders). With the Sixers looking at close to $50 million in cap space entering free agency and Thompson’s salary still unguaranteed, the move to pick up the option carries no risk.
A limited player, Thompson's calling card is that he has shot 39 percent from three-point range during his three-year career. He doesn’t contribute in many other aspects, though.
With the move, the Sixers currently have 11 players under contract for the 2016-17 season. They are:
• Guards: Kendall Marshall, T.J. McConnell
• Wings: Nik Stauskas, Robert Covington, Jerami Grant, Hollis Thompson
• Forwards: Carl Landry, Joel Embiid, Jahlil Okafor, Nerlens Noel, Richaun Holmes
All of this comes before the team’s three draft picks (Ben Simmons, Timothe Luwawu, and Furkan Korkmaz) have signed, and you would expect that at least Simmons and Luwawu are Sixers next year.
The deadline to make a qualifying offer to both Christian Wood or Isaiah Canaan is on Thursday. Don’t forget that the team wants Dario Saric and his porn stache to come over, as well. There are already rumors that the Sixers expect to be active in free agency, too.
So, what does this mean? For now, maybe not all that much. Teams are allowed to have up to 20 players under contract in the offseason.
Looking ahead a few months, though, the roster that we see right now on June 29th probably will look a good bit different than the one the Sixers trot out on opening night. Colangelo described the roster as “in flux” last week after the draft, and that might be an understatement.
Follow Rich on Twitter: @rich_hofmann
