Every year it seems the NBA salary cap goes up.

This year is no different, as the projected cap figure is $123.6 million, according to Tim Bontemps of ESPN. This could be very beneficial news to many teams. So how does this impact the Sixers?

“The new calculations leave the Sixers ($151.7m) just a little bit under $5.3 million below the $156.983 million luxury tax apron, which becomes a hard cap if the Sixers use the non-taxpayer MLE or the bi-annual exception. Previously, they were just about $4 million under the apron threshold. This is all running under the assumption that James Harden opts into his $47.4 million player option for next season.”

With the news today of James Harden opting out of his $47.3M option, combined with the increased salary cap, the Sixers could not only sign P.J. Tucker but use $4.1 million bi-annual exception to add more depth to the squad. We must discuss what happens if Harden opts in. Here’s what Bodner had to say if that indeed is the reality.

“A $1.3 million jump in space under the hard cap might not sound like a lot, but it’s very significant. Every million counts here. Sitting at $5.293m below the apron threshold, the Sixers would need to dump about $4.2 million in salary to get enough space under the apron to fit in the reported $9.5 million starting salary for Tucker. In fact, either Korkmaz ($5 million) or even just Thybulle ($4.379m) will do.

Before the jump in the cap, when they needed to clear $5.5 million in salary, they would have needed to dump two players to be able to sign Tucker. Now, they’d just need to drop one. That’s key, not only because it’s easier to find a team willing to absorb just one contract, but also because it means you have fewer roster spots to replace, and thus are more comfortable operating close to the hard cap than you were before.”

More to come.

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