76ers reportedly have interest in John Collins, but the money is the real question

The 76ers are once again being linked to a power forward, and this time the name is John Collins. Marc Stein and Jake Fischer reported that Collins is expected to draw interest from Philadelphia, Orlando, and San Antonio when free agency opens, with Minnesota lurking but not expected to keep up financially.

This is the part of the offseason where every starting-caliber forward on the market gets connected to the 76ers. A day earlier it was Cleveland’s Dean Wade. Now it’s Collins. The through line is obvious: Philly has had a hole at the four for years and keeps trying to patch it on the cheap.

Collins would be an actual upgrade over the patch jobs. He’s coming off a season with the Clippers where he put up 13.6 points and 5.3 rebounds in 27 minutes a night, while shooting a career-best 40.6% from three. He’s 28, entering his 10th season, and at this point in his career he’s a floor-spacing four who can rebound, finish at the rim, and slide up to small-ball five in the right matchup. For a team that needs shooting around Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and VJ Edgecombe, the on-court fit is clean.

What signing Collins would actually cost the 76ers

Here’s where it gets less fun. Collins is reportedly in line to command something close to the full non-taxpayer mid-level exception, projected to start around $15 million. If the 76ers spend that, they hard-cap themselves at the first apron, and given where their cap sheet already sits, that almost certainly means letting both Kelly Oubre Jr. and Quentin Grimes walk.

So this isn’t a free swing. It’s a choice between keeping the depth they have and upgrading the position they’ve never solved. Mike Gansey and the front office have to decide which version of this roster they’d rather run back.

Collins makes sense. The fit makes sense. Whether the math makes sense is the whole story, and we won’t know the answer until free agency actually opens.