The Philadelphia 76ers have a hugely expensive payroll for a team that disappointed last season, and they’ll have to make a decision about Al Horford.
The Philadelphia 76ers are coming off a disappointing 2019-20 season to say the least. Expected by some sharp observers to represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals, they faltered and ended up with the sixth seed en route to getting swept easily by the Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs.
It’s the last thing they expected, but there has been a price to pay. Head coach Brett Brown was immediately fired and replaced by Doc Rivers, and perhaps the finest top executive in the game, Daryl Morey, was hired to run their basketball operations.
There will be a price to pay on the basketball side as well. The pieces of the Sixers puzzle simply don’t fit, with too many players who play the same (or similar) positions and roles, and not enough ball-handlers and shot creators.
The organization will have some tough decisions to make, and the toughest will likely all have to do with Al Horford. We’ll take a look at the three most likely outcomes over the next season or so for him and his remaining three years and $81 million contract.
The Philadelphia 76ers could trade Al Horford
We’ll start with the hardest one. Horford’s contract is onerous and undesirable, and he’ll be 34 years old whenever next year rolls around. While he provides some shooting and defense (and very little rebounding), you can probably find most of what he provides in free agency, even if it’s not as high a level or you have to find it among a combination of a couple of players. You can also do it a whole lot cheaper.
If you try hard enough, you can find a trade for almost anybody in the NBA, and Daryl Morey is an executive who takes that maxim to the nth degree. Still, doing so will be one of the most complicated maneuvers anybody makes this season, if he’s able to pull it off.