During his latest Bleacher Report live stream (YouTube link), NBA insider Jake Fischer said there have been persistent rumblings that the Sixers may be considering a salary-dump deal to give them more financial flexibility to re-sign restricted free agent Quentin Grimes.
“There has been buzz all summer long about the Sixers looking to potentially move one of, if not both, Andre Drummond and/or Kelly Oubre,” Fischer said. “If they are able to find a deal for one of those two guys as we get closer to camp, that would open up some more wiggle room for Philadelphia to be able to pay Grimes a little bit more (money).”
Both Drummond ($5MM) and Oubre ($8.4MM) exercised their player options for 2025/26 and will be unrestricted free agents next offseason.
This isn’t the first time Drummond has been mentioned in trade rumors this summer — Tony Jones of The Athletic reported on June 30 that Philadelphia was trying to move the two-time All-Star center. But we haven’t heard anything else on that front until now.
Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron (Substack link) noted a few days ago that the Sixers could potentially dip below the luxury tax line while re-signing Grimes if they traded both Drummond and Oubre. Gozlan pointed to the Nets — the lone NBA team with cap room remaining — as a potential match.
A source confirmed to Net Income of NetsDaily.com that acquiring Drummond (along with other assets) would be the type of move Brooklyn is looking for.
Oubre is also no stranger to trade rumors and makes logical sense as a player on an expiring contract who could be moved. But we haven’t seen any reports linking him to a specific team.
When our Luke Adams discussed yesterday in a Front Office article what a contract compromise might look like between Grimes and the Sixers, he floated the possibility of a four-year, $65MM deal with a partial guarantee in year four.
For what it’s worth, Grimes recently took to Instagram to post a picture of himself in a Sixers uniform, as Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports relays (via Twitter).