Sixers Match Paul Reed's Three-Year, $25M Offer Sheet
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Adam Aaronson, whose legal name is Sixers Adam (@SixersAdam on Twitter), covers the Sixers for The Rights To Ricky Sanchez. He believes cantaloupe is the best food in existence, and is brought to you by the Official Realtor of The Process, Adam Ksebe.
The Sixers have elected to match the offer sheet restricted free agent center Paul Reed agreed to with the Utah Jazz worth a maximum of three years and about $24M, according to Adrian Wojnarowski. The Sixers had until 11:59PM ET on Sunday to decide whether or not to match the deal and bring Reed, 24, back to Philadelphia after he reportedly signed the offer sheet Saturday morning.
Danny Ainge and the Utah Jazz front office did everything they could to dissuade the Sixers from matching the deal and bringing Reed into their frontcourt rotation — one which is already crowded, featuring All-Star starter Lauri Markkanen, All-Rookie center Walker Kessler, veteran sharpshooter Kelly Olynyk and the recently-acquired John Collins.
The structure of the deal is unique, and perhaps unprecedented: while the first of three seasons is fully guaranteed, the following two only become guaranteed if Reed’s team advances past the first round of the playoffs. In implementing that condition, the Jazz made it so Reed’s deal is essentially a one-year pact if he winds up in Utah, but in all likelihood a fully-guaranteed three-year deal if he remains in Philadelphia — given their respective standings within the league, winning a playoff series seems like a massive improbability for the Jazz, while it would represent the bare minimum for a Sixers team desiring championship contender status.
Reed should stand firmly as the Sixers’ backup center behind reigning NBA MVP Joel Embiid when the season begins despite the team’s recent signings of Mo Bamba and Montrezl Harrell (the latter of which now being even more confusing). Bamba slots in as an above-average third string center, which is a necessity for a Sixers team that must plan for many Embiid absences over the course of an 82-game regular season. Harrell appears headed towards a second straight season at the end of the bench.
While they were extremely likely to do so at some point soon, this deal officially takes the Sixers over the luxury tax threshold with 13 players under contract. Of course, the possibility of a James Harden trade continues to loom, but the Sixers have signaled a willingness to enter the tax this upcoming season after making a point to avoid it last year — a directive that resulted in the trade deadline deal that shipped out Matisse Thybulle and what became the 34th pick in June’s 2023 NBA Draft in exchange for Jalen McDaniels — who has since departed for Toronto — and two future second-round picks.
Reed’s outlier skills jump out at you, and at times his deficiencies do the same. But the bottom line is this: after years and years of incompetence at backup center, the Sixers have locked down perhaps the best full-time backup Embiid has had in a half-decade.