It’s now been a week-and-a-half since Ariel Hukporti tore his Achilles in the Sixers’ preseason opener, and they’re no closer to finding a viable replacement for him. That could change in the coming days, though.
NBA teams need to have their 15-man regular-season rosters finalized by 5 p.m. ET on Monday, which means teams will be sorting through their end-of-bench options over the weekend. On Thursday night, Jake Fischer of The Stein Line mentioned two players as possibilities for the Sixers: Milwaukee
Bucks center Jericho Sims and Dalas Mavericks center Moussa Cissé.
According to Fischer, the Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers have discussed a trade framework built around Sims and Dalton Knecht, although he’s heard “some pessimism from sources briefed on those talks that such a trade will actually go through.” Instead, the Lakers might wind up waiving Knecht, whom they selected with the No. 17 overall pick in 2024, right after the Sixers took Jared McCain. (Remember when that was a divisive choice among Sixers fans? Welp!)
Cissé’s $2.2 million salary became guaranteed on Oct. 1, which hardly suggests that the Mavs will turn around and cut bait on him. However, they’re “known to be exploring pathways to keep Dwight Powell on the roster,” Fischer reported, which could come at the expense of Cissé’s roster spot.
As we’ve already covered, the Sixers are hard-capped at the $209.0 million first apron, and they’re only about $1.8 million below that line at the moment. Outside of an undrafted free agent, they won’t have enough financial flexibility to sign anyone to a fresh contract until early December. If the Mavericks waive Cissé, the Sixers would not be able to sign him without cutting salary somehow.
The Sixers could waive Jabari Walker, who has only $250,000 of his $2.6 million contract guaranteed heading into the season, to free up the money to sign a free agent. However, Walker might be one of their better small-ball 5 options, so waiving him could wind up solving one problem for the Sixers while creating another.
If the Sixers don’t want to go the salary-dump route, they could trade one of their current players for Sims, Cissé or another option. However, even if the Sixers were willing to trade Hukporti as salary-matching ballast, he isn’t trade-eligible until Dec. 15. That makes Justin Edwards ($2.4 million) their most likely trade chip.
Since the Sixers are under the first apron, they are allowed to take back more salary than they send out. That wouldn’t be an issue with Cissé—in fact, trading Edwards for him would help them carve out an extra $225,000 in flexibility below the first apron—but Sims is earning $2.8 million. Fortunately, they’d be allowed to trade Edwards for Sims without including additional salary. (It might cost them a second-round pick to do so, though.)
Sims and Cissé aren’t the only two backup bigs to watch as cutdown day approaches. A handful of camp battles could help the Sixers find a stopgap option via their last two-way spot if they aren’t able to land a more permanent solution. Fischer and Marc Stein reported Sunday that the Sixers “are unlikely to add a big man on a standard NBA deal before early December” due to their proximity to the first apron, although they were referring to a free-agent signing rather than a trade addition.
If Cissé does shake loose from Dallas, he’d be eligible for a two-way spot. Since Sims already has four years of NBA experience, the Sixers couldn’t sign him to a two-way deal. The same goes for Drew Eubanks and Tony Bradley, both of whom the New York Knicks waived on Thursday.
The Sixers will likely fill that last two-way spot with another backup big and hope to make do at that spot for the first six weeks of the season. They can reevaluate their options once December rolls around, although it wouldn’t be surprising if they look to push that out as long as possible to maintain roster flexibility heading into the trade deadline.
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.
Follow Bryan on Bluesky.
