It was suspicious when Morey reneged on the agreement with Harden. Then they don’t give Maxey an extension. And no word on Harris or Melton.
Now they finally pull the trigger on the Harden trade, and instead of win-now talent like Norman Powell and Terrance Mann, they opt for FOUR power forwards all on expiring contracts and they get rid of PJ Tucker and Petrusev who both would have been on the payroll next year. They literally have nobody on contract for next summer except Embiid, Paul Reed, and Maxey’s qualifying offer.
I’m sorry, anyone who doesn’t think Embiid and Morey have already agreed to part ways next summer is fooling themselves.
That’s correct. When you’re a win-now team you operate above the cap (or more likely above the first apron). You resign your existing players using Bird Rights and you trade away expiring contracts for longer contracts to add more talent.
The only way to be under the cap is to have a team of scrubs and guys still on rookie contracts or veteran minimum. No team not looking to tank and rebuild goes under the cap unless they have a prior arrangement (like Anthony Davis joining the Lakers).