Why The Sixers Prioritized Flexibility Over Charles Bassey, Isaiah Joe

Heading into the 2022-23 NBA season, the Philadelphia 76ers were facing a roster crunch. Even after waiving Trevelin Queen during training camp, they had 16 players under contract (not including their two-way players), which is one over the 15-man regular-season roster limit.

To rectify that, the Sixers waived third-year sharpshooter Isaiah Joe and second-year center Charles Bassey before the season began, leaving themselves an open roster spot heading into the year. Joe quickly signed a three-year, $6 million contract with the Oklahoma City Thunder, while the San Antonio Spurs signed Bassey to a two-way deal.

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Both Joe and Bassey have impressed in their new respective homes, which could leave the Sixers feeling a bit of seller’s remorse. However, they had to balance their short- and long-term outlook heading into the season, which explains why they prioritized financial flexibility over two relatively unproven prospects.

Because the Sixers signed P.J. Tucker using the non-taxpayer mid-level exception and Danuel House Jr. using the bi-annual exception this past summer, they’re hard-capped from now until June 30. That means they cannot exceed the league’s $156.983 million luxury-tax apron at any point through the remainder of this league year under any circumstance.

The Sixers currently have 14 players under contract for a total cost of $151.4 million, which leaves them roughly $5.5 million below the apron. They also have an open roster spot, which they can use to sign players to a 10-day contract beginning on Jan. 5 or pull off an imbalanced deal ahead of the Feb. 9 NBA trade deadline.

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They’ll need to take advantage of that flexibility to justify the decision to cut bait on Bassey and Joe, though.

Bassey didn’t play in six of the Spurs’ first seven games, but he has since carved out a relatively stable role in the team’s rotation. After his five-point, 14-rebound, four-block outing against the shorthanded Milwaukee Bucks in mid-November, Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich praised the young big man in typical Pop style.

“He was something else today,” Popovich told reporters. “He just plays. He doesn’t know what the hell we are doing, but he catches up quickly on plays and he plays the game hard. He knows his role, he rebounds, he blocks shots, he runs the floor and he does it with a lot of energy.”

The Sixers’ decision to waive Bassey was somewhat curious given their yearslong struggle to find a competent backup to star center Joel Embiid. Bassey made only 23 regular-season appearances for them as a rookie, but he possessed obvious rim-protecting upside with his 6’11”, 235-pound frame.

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For most of the offseason, Bassey appeared poised to battle third-year big man Paul Reed for the Sixers’ backup center role. But when the Sixers veteran big man Montrezl Harrell to a fully guaranteed veteran-minimum contract in mid-September, it complicated Bassey’s path to a permanent roster spot.

Only $74,742 of Bassey’s roughly $1.6 million salary for the 2022-23 season was fully guaranteed heading into training camp. By waiving him, the Sixers shaved nearly $1.5 million from their books. They appeared to prioritize that over rostering a developmental center who might have been their fourth-string option behind Embiid, Harrell and Reed.

Going to the rebuilding Spurs might have been the best thing for Bassey’s career, too. Instead of being buried deep on the bench in Philadelphia, he’s getting to learn on the fly while learning from one of the greatest coaches in NBA history.

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“As a kid, I wanted to play for [Popovich],” he told reporters in mid-November. “That’s the coach you want to play for, go hard for. He is just so calm. When we are winning or losing, he is calm and he says the right words — the right things to a player that make you want to go crazy in a game. Me being a part of this team is just a blessing.”

Joe is likewise making his impact felt in limited minutes on the rebuilding Thunder. He’s averaging a career-high 6.8 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.7 three-pointers in only 11.9 minutes per game while shooting a sizzling 46.2 percent from deep. In his 96 regular-season appearances with the Sixers, Joe knocked down a total of 84 three-pointers while shooting only 34.9 percent from downtown.

Had Joe gotten more reps alongside an elite passer like James Harden, it’s fair to wonder whether he would have eventually broken out in Philadelphia as well. However, he faced an uphill battle to crack the Sixers’ rotation at full strength. The offseason acquisition of De’Anthony Melton pushed him down the backcourt pecking order, so he would have been competing for scraps with Furkan Korkmaz and Jaden Springer.

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Joe’s $1.8 million contract with the Sixers was fully nonguaranteed until opening night, so the Sixers incurred no dead cap hit by waiving him. Had they kept him on their roster beyond opening night and waived him later in the season, his $1.8 million cap hit would have stayed on their books and pushed them closer to the luxury-tax apron.

Seeing Joe and Bassey find their footing in Oklahoma City and San Antonio may frustrate Sixers fans, but there’s no guarantee that they would have done the same had they remained in Philadelphia. They likely would have been buried on the bench and would have spent the year shuffling between the Sixers and the G League.

If the Sixers take advantage of the additional roster spot and financial flexibility that they gained by waiving both Bassey and Joe, that might wind up being the best thing for all sides. But if they don’t make a significant addition, it’ll be fair game to wonder whether they should have just kept either Joe or Bassey instead.

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Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac or RealGM. All odds via FanDuel Sportsbook.