Dalen Terry waived by Sixers, becomes the first casualty in clearing the runway for LeBron James and KCP

The Sixers’ roster shuffle continued on Sunday with the team waiving 24-year-old wing Dalen Terry, and while it’s a minor move on its own, it’s the kind of behind-the-scenes cap management that becomes necessary when you add the greatest player of all time and one of his championship running mates in the same week.

Dalen Terry played 14 games for the Sixers last season, averaging 4.1 points, 1.6 assists, and 1.6 rebounds in 12.4 minutes per game.

The former 18th overall pick in the 2022 draft came over on a two-way deal that the Sixers later converted to a standard contract late in the year, but he was never part of the playoff rotation and was always more of a depth flier than a rotation piece.

Now, he has been waived to clear the runway for LeBron James and KCP. Thank you for your service, Dalen Terry. We will see you in Valhalla.

Dalen Terry Rest Now Brother. We Have the Watch.

We have waived Dalen Terry.

— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) July 26, 2026

The Money Behind the Move

The Sixers exercised Dalen Terry’s club option last month, worth roughly $2.6 million for 2026-27, but per Spotrac, that salary was non-guaranteed until January 10, at which point it would have become fully guaranteed.

Waiving him now, before that guarantee date kicks in, lets the Sixers move off the contract cleanly and open up a roster spot and cap flexibility without eating the full guaranteed money.

This is exactly the kind of roster spot you clear when you’re bringing in LeBron James and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Somebody has to go to make room, and a 24-year-old wing who wasn’t in the playoff rotation is a logical candidate.

The Cap Situation Is Tight and There’s More Work to Do

Here’s the part that matters for the bigger picture. According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks, even after waiving Terry, the Sixers still need to clear one more contract from their books to stay under the first luxury-tax apron.

The team became hard-capped at the first apron when it signed Dean Wade using the non-taxpayer mid-level exception, which means there’s a firm ceiling they cannot cross, and they’re currently bumping up against it.

So the Terry move is step one, not the finish line. Gansey and the front office have some more maneuvering to do to get the roster compliant with the hard cap, which likely means at least one more contract getting moved or waived before the season starts.

When you add LeBron and KCP to a roster that was already spending, the math gets tight fast, and this is the unglamorous work required to make it all fit.

Nothing to See Here

None of this changes the big picture. The Sixers landed LeBron, added KCP as a veteran wing off the buyout market, and are still constructing a legitimate championship contender around Embiid, Maxey, Jaylen Brown, and Edgecombe.

Waiving Dalen Terry is just the routine roster and cap management that comes with big-time additions, and it won’t be the last small move as the Sixers clear the space to make everything work under the apron.

Expect another contract to come off the books soon. This is what team-building at the top of the league looks like, one veteran minimum and one waived depth wing at a time, all in service of chasing the first title since 1983.

The roster is taking shape. The cap sheet is getting cleaned up. And the Sixers are still barreling toward a season that’s going to have this city buzzing from opening night.

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