PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA – APRIL 16: Tyrese Maxey #0 of the Philadelphia 76ers celebrates after … [+]
The 2023-2024 NBA season is closing in, but that doesn’t mean business is in any way done.
October 23rd represents the deadline for teams to extend the contracts of their 2020 first round draft selection. Needless to say, both teams and agents are working to finalize deals.
One player who likely won’t be given an extension – despite clearly earning one – is Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey.
But before you hit that keyboard to send angry tweets to general manager Daryl Morey, it’s important to understand why Maxey isn’t receiving a new contract before this season.
Firstly, let’s establish the obvious. Maxey is an upcoming star, and one of the most exciting young guards in the entire league. He just came off a year in which he averaged 20.3 points per game, and he’s surprisingly developed into an elite three-point shooter, having canned 41.4% of his 781 career attempts.
Maxey also has an outstanding motor, which makes him a constant threat in transition, and at just 22 years old, it’s fair to assume he’ll get even better.
Secondly, let’s establish the type of contract he will end up earning when his rookie deal expires next offseason.
Given how the market is shaping up, with the league’s salary cap capable of an annual 10% increase, and the NBA working towards closing a new TV deal, Maxey is clearly on track to sign a maximum level contract worth 25% of the salary cap.
(Given the aforementioned 10% annual salary cap increases, Maxey – who can at most earn 8% raises off his 2024-2025 base salary – will actually see his cap percentage hit decrease over the span of his contract.)
Alright, so we’ve established that Maxey is likely going to be an NBA All-Star, who will earn a maximum contract. So what’s the holdup?
The Sixers wish to utilize Maxey’s cap hold to optimize cap space next summer.
Maxey was selected 21st in 2020 and will thus carry a cap hold of just $13 million, meaning the Sixers will have that reserved on their cap sheet until they replace it with his actual salary.
That doesn’t mean Maxey won’t get his money. Quite the opposite. It simply means the Sixers will use his low cap hold to free up cap space, sign players with the freed up money, and then – finally – re-sign Maxey to the aforementioned contract after they’re done.
The Sixers can do this as they have full Bird rights on Maxey, as he’s played for them for over three seasons. That allows them to go over the salary cap limit to sign him, and they will.
We’ve seen this exact strategy play out before.
In 2015, the San Antonio Spurs were able to sign LaMarcus Aldridge by using the low cap hold of Kawhi Leonard, also a non-lottery selection, to optimize cap space.
The Spurs asked Leonard to wait, which he did, which made it possible for the club to sign Aldridge, a star at the time.
It’s an interesting approach for teams who are able to think in terms of money optimization, but it requires complete trust between player and team. More importantly, it requires buy-in from agents too.
If a star player is pushing to sign an extension, and avoid free agency altogether, it’s in the best interest of the team to lock him up, as to avoid potential grudges.
That said, the cap hold approach is a viable tool, and more teams – especially younger teams with larger plans – should be willing to engage players and agents in playing out this scenario.
In the case of Maxey, it’s heavily assumed that he and Philadelphia are on the same page, which should work out for the both of them.
Unless noted otherwise, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball-Reference. All salary information via Spotrac. All odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook.
