Over the past 48 hours, the Sixers have been linked to both John Collins and Dean Wade as possible free-agent targets. That strongly suggests they’re considering using the $15.0 million non-taxpayer mid-level exception, which does not bode well for Quentin Grimes and Kelly Oubre Jr.’s chances of returning to Philadelphia next season.
If the Sixers use the non-taxpayer MLE, they’d be hard-capped at the roughly $209 million first apron through next June. With more than $172 million in guaranteed salary
already on their books, they’d have a tough time spending the full non-taxpayer MLE and re-signing either Grimes or Oubre while staying under the hard cap, much less both.
If they strike out on Collins, Wade and their other non-taxpayer MLE targets, the Sixers could always pivot toward using the smaller $6.1 million taxpayer MLE instead. That would hard-cap them at the $222 million second apron, but they might be able to re-sign Oubre, Grimes and/or Andre Drummond while still adding an impact free agent.
With that in mind, let’s run through a handful of free agents whom the Sixers could potentially target with the taxpayer MLE.
Based on the current $165 million projection for the 2026-27 salary cap, the taxpayer MLE is projected to start at $6.065 million. Teams can only offer one- or two-year contracts with the taxpayer MLE, so the most that the Sixers could offer is a two-year, $12.4 million deal.
Jock Landale, C
The Sixers could have acquired Jock Landale essentially for free ahead of the February trade deadline. Two days after the Memphis Grizzlies shipped him to the Utah Jazz, the Jazz sent him to the Atlanta Hawks for cash considerations.
The Sixers didn’t pursue him at the deadline because doing so would have pushed them back into luxury-tax territory. It’s not too late for them to rectify that mistake, but it’ll be more costly now.
Between Memphis and Atlanta this past season, Landale averaged a career-high 10.6 points and 5.7 rebounds in only 22.1 minutes per game. He also shot 38.3 percent on a career-high 2.8 three-point attempts per game (193 in total). While Landale might not be as prolific of a rebounder as Drummond, he’d still be an upgrade at backup center behind Joel Embiid.
The Sixers are reportedly interested in Landale, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, although he’s “expected to have a strong market” with interest from at least a half-dozen teams. Scotto warned that Landale is expected to “command offer north of the bi-annual exception in free agency” as well.
The good news is that the $6.1 million taxpayer MLE is slightly north of the $5.5 million bi-annual exception. But with this many suitors after him—Scotto specifically mentioned the Hawks, Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers and Cleveland Cavaliers—the Sixers might have a tough time outbidding all of them.
Ziaire Williams, SF
To maximize their financial flexibility this offseason, the Brooklyn Nets declined their $6.25 million team option on Ziaire Williams on Sunday, making him an unrestricted free agent.
The soon-to-be 25-year-old averaged 10.2 points and shot a career-best 34.3 percent from deep this past season with Brooklyn, although he hasn’t shot above 43.0 percent from the floor since his rookie campaign in 2021-22. The Grizzlies originally traded up to the No. 10 pick to select him, but he has yet to live up to his predraft hype.
Williams is the exact type of reclamation project that the Sixers should be willing to gamble on. He doesn’t turn 25 until September, so he could become a part of their long-term future if he popped in Philly. However, the Sixers could face competition from the Los Angeles Lakers if they do decide to pursue Williams, according to Dan Woike of The Athletic.
“The bet for the Lakers would be that at 6-9 with a nearly 40-inch vertical leap, that Williams could be an impact defensive player with room for growth on the offensive side of the ball. He has fans inside the Lakers’ facility.
“There are local connections too — Williams was a teammate of Bronny James at Sierra Canyon.”
The Sixers took swings on a bunch of recent former first-round picks as “second-draft” candidates under former team president Daryl Morey, including Dalen Terry and MarJon Beauchamp last year alone. Could new team president Mike Gansey pursue the same strategy with Williams?
Tim Hardaway Jr., SG
The Denver Nuggets appear to be in cost-cutting mode as they look to reorient around Nikola Jokić. Tim Hardaway Jr. could wind up being a cap casualty for them.
Hardaway finished third in the Sixth Man of the Year race this past season after averaging 13.5 points while shooting 44.7 percent overall and a career-best 40.7 percent from three-point range in only 26.6 minutes per game. He played in 80 games this season but started only six of them, making him a very worthy 6MOY candidate.
More than half of Hardaway’s field-goal attempts have come from long range in each of the past seven seasons, and he’s shot above 38 percent from deep four times in that span. The Maxey + Embiid + shooters formula has historically worked wonders for the Sixers, and Hardaway is among the best available shooters on the free-agent market this offseason.
According to Marc Stein and Jake Fischer of The Stein Line, the Miami Heat are expected to “have strong interest” in both Hardaway and Minnesota Timberwolves guard Mike Conley, as they look to corner the market on over-the-hill veterans to pair with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo. However, the Heat are hard-capped at the first apron and could have a tough time filling out their roster as is without clearing additional salary.
The 34-year-old Hardaway might not be a long-term piece of the puzzle for the Sixers, but he’d be a welcome addition to maximize their win-now chances.
Khris Middleton, SF
In honor of Morey, we had to include one washed veteran here, right?
Middleton played in 63 games this past season split between the Washington Wizards and Dallas Mavericks, and he averaged 10.2 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.8 assists in only 22.8 minutes per game. He shot a respectable 36.0 percent from three-point range, too. However, the days of him threatening to join the 50-40-90 club are long gone.
Injuries have hampered Middleton in recent years, which is why the Milwaukee Bucks traded him to the Wizards for Kyle Kuzma at the 2025 trade deadline. The Wizards kept his minutes in check because they had zero interest in winning games this past season, but the Sixers presumably wouldn’t ask Middleton to play more than 20-25 minutes per game off the bench, either.
Given his age (34) and recent injury history, Middleton would be a risky signing even with the taxpayer MLE. But in terms of pure talent, the three-time All-Star might be the best player available in this price range.
Unfortunately, he’s already been “strongly linked” to Antetokounmpo and the Heat, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. At this point, it’d be surprising if Middleton didn’t end up reuniting with Antetokounmpo on South Beach, but one can dream for now.
Moe Wagner, C
Although Franz Wagner still has four years left on his max contract with the Orlando Magic, his older brother, Moe, might be moving on from Orlando this summer.
Moe has been with the Magic since he signed a rest-of-season contract with them in April 2021. He averaged 11.1 points on 56.0 percent shooting in only 18.5 minutes per game with them between the 2022-23 and 2024-25 campaigns, but he suffered a torn ACL in late December 2024 that caused him to miss the remainder of that season and the beginning of the 2025-26 season as well.
With both Wendell Carter Jr. and Goga Bitadze under contract for next season, Wagner may be a luxury that the Magic can no longer afford. Stein and Fischer reported Saturday that he’s projected “to have multiple suitors in free agency” and has “a willingness to play elsewhere” even though his brother doesn’t seem likely to leave Orlando anytime soon.
If the Sixers whiff on Landale, Wagner would also be a solid backup-center addition to compete with Adem Bona for minutes behind Embiid.
Marvin Bagley III PF/C
Marvin Bagley III will always be known as the player whom the Sacramento Kings chose instead of Luka Dončić or Trae Young, which is a reputation that’s tough to shake.
While Bagley will never become an MVP candidate like Dončić or a multi-time All-Star like Young, he quietly resurrected his NBA career last season after looking like he might be in danger of falling out of the league entirely.
Bagley split 60 games between the Wizards and Dallas Mavericks last season and averaged 10.5 points, 6.1 rebounds and 0.7 blocks in only 20.0 minutes per game. He also shot a scorching 61.8 percent overall and 46.2 percent from deep, albeit on only 52 total three-point attempts.
The 6’10”, 235-pound Bagley logged a majority of his time at power forward earlier in his career, but he’s largely slid over to center over the past few seasons. His teams’ net rating has largely been abysmal with him on the floor over that span, but he’s also largely played for abysmal teams in recent years.
Landale and Wagner should be higher on the Sixers’ free-agent big board than Bagley, but he’d be a reasonable backup plan in case they strike out on their top frontcourt targets.
Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac and salary-cap information via RealGM.
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