Consulting former Sixers ahead of the 2024-25 NBA regular season

With the 2024-25 NBA regular season starting in exactly one week, now seems as good as ever to check in on a handful of recently departed former Sixers. Let’s see what some of our old friends are up to as they prepare for the upcoming season:

Sixers player previews: Critical questions and predictions for each member of the 2024-25 roster

Tobias Harris

Harris will make $232 million over seven years after signing a two-year, $52 million deal to return to the Detroit Pistons, a remarkable accomplishment in itself. The Pistons have different hopes for Harris than the Sixers did — no championship aspirations or Jimmy Butler-sized shoes to fill, just the hope that Harris can provide some stability on the offensive end with his goals and shots.

Still, Harris will be overpaid based on his overall value on the court, but for a Detroit team that entered the offseason with plenty of cap space and plenty of young players fighting for minutes, there was little opportunity cost to give Harris a chance. an additional few million dollars per year.

In Harris’ first preseason game with the Pistons, he stood out against the Phoenix Suns: In 16 minutes before intermission, Harris had already scored 20 points and grabbed four rebounds while shooting 8-11 from the field and 2- 3 from beyond the arc. . He didn’t shoot the ball as well in his second showing of the year, scoring six points on 3-9 shooting in 26 minutes. Harris collected three steals and two blocks, though.

Paul Reed

Joining Harris in Detroit is Reed, the former Sixers backup center who was traded for Andre Drummond and then waived to clear enough cap space for the team to sign Caleb Martin. The Pistons used their financial flexibility to absorb Reed’s unusual contact: The deal has two seasons remaining worth about $15 million total, but neither season’s salary is guaranteed until mid of January this season.

Claiming Reed was a no-brainer for any team with enough cap space to absorb his 2024-25 salary — they can always waive him if they need to free up money — but at his current numbers, Reed isn’t a stretch at all. for what you pay for it. Did the Pistons get lucky? – having the worst record in the NBA last season, putting them at the top of the waiver order over the summer.

Reed has played in all four of the Pistons’ preseason games so far, though he’s logged just 9.7 minutes per game and shot 3-14 from the field (21.4 percent). Reed’s challenge will be to stand out in a frontcourt full of young players who all have more familiarity than he does in Detroit.

James Harden

As he prepares for his 16th NBA season, Harden potentially takes on a huge role for the Los Angeles Clippers: Not only has newly minted All-Star Paul George left for Harden’s former team, but his fellow star Kawhi Leonard is … – once again — already battling health issues that could keep him sidelined.

The result: A 35-year-old Harden could be asked to do the things that made him a transformative, transcendent superstar more than five years ago.

Harden, who signed a two-year, $70 million contract that includes a player option to return to Los Angeles over the summer, might be underrated in terms of current ability at this point. His athleticism has diminished dramatically, but he’s still one of the best off-the-dribble three-point shooters in the NBA thanks to his signature pull-up move, and he’s still a true elite passer.

That combination gives him a high floor in terms of productivity, but the diminished ability to apply pressure to the rim as a driver will show if (when?) Harden is asked to take full control of the Clippers’ offense.

PJ Tucker

Tucker, who will turn 40 in May, is entering the final season of the three-year, $33 million contract he signed with the Sixers through 2022. Tucker was a non-factor for most of his time with the Clippers in last season after heading to Los Angeles after the first games of the year.

When the Sixers traded Harden to the Clippers, they also made sure to trade Tucker’s remaining two seasons for Nic Batum’s expiring contract. That in itself might have been worth another first-round pick: Not only is Batum a far superior player at this point in both players’ careers, but he didn’t have an $11.5 million player option for 2024-25 as Tucker did. If the Sixers still had Tucker on their books, it would have been much more difficult for them to sign Martin in free agency last season.

Fast forward to the start of this year’s training camp, and the Clippers announced that Tucker and the team agreed that the veteran would be sidelined indefinitely as the teams look to “find “. the best situation for him to move forward.”

Mo Bamba

Bamba was useful as the Sixers’ third-string center in 2023-24, but played far more than expected due to Joel Embiid’s struggles staying healthy. He received a great opportunity to sign with the Clippers over the summer; even while playing on another veteran’s minimum deal, Bamba now has a chance to play rotation minutes.

Bamba has yet to appear in the preseason due to a knee injury, but is expected to be ready for opening night. Once healthy, Bamba figures to be the Clippers’ strongest option to back up starting center Ivica Zubac. Bamba’s length and catch radius make him an intriguing fit alongside – and pick-and-roll partner for – a player Harden barely spent time with last season.

By Anthony Melton

Melton’s second season with the Sixers was derailed by a series of back ailments that also hurt his market value. Melton had to settle for a one-year deal in the free agent market, though the Golden State Warriors will pay him nearly $13 million in 2024-25 as part of their mission to bolster their depth

If Melton can stay healthy, as he did his first year in Philly, while playing up to his standards, he should have significant multi-year contract offers next summer from Golden State and other teams.

Through four preseason games, Melton has logged 18.0 minutes per contest, averaging nine points while shooting 36.4 percent from beyond the arc on 5.5 long-range attempts per game.

Melton has also averaged three assists per game during this limited action, and if he can finally tap into the potential he was believed to have as a secondary ball handler and shot creator, his value will skyrocket.

Buddy Hield

Golden State also acquired Hield as part of their offseason transformation, and adding one of the best three-point shooters in NBA history in Hield will help make up for the loss of one. of the best three-point shooters in NBA history in Klay Thompson, the franchise icon who now plays for the Dallas Mavericks.

Hield has had an excellent start to the preseason. Last week, Hield torched his former team on the road, scoring 22 points on 8-9 shooting from the field and 6-7 from beyond the arc against the Sacramento Kings. On Sunday night, Hield went 4-6 from three-point range against Harris, Reed and the Pistons.

How Warriors head coach Steve Kerr works out the roles in his rotation for Melton and Hield will be an interesting subplot through the early weeks of the season. Both players should be locked in for a good chunk of minutes each night, but will either of them crack the starting lineup?

Jalen McDaniels

A failed trade deadline acquisition by the Sixers a couple of years ago, McDaniels has bounced around the league. He signed a two-year deal with the Toronto Raptors after his few months in Philadelphia, logged just 538 total minutes in Toronto in 2023-24, and was quickly traded to the Kings as a salary cap in a financially motivated deal.

On Monday, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that Sacramento was trading McDaniels and a second-round pick to the San Antonio Spurs, essentially paying the Spurs to absorb McDaniels’ final season. contract

Charania later reported that the Spurs would waive McDaniels immediately after the trade, making the 26-year-old wing a free agent

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