In signing a five-year, $180-million contract extension in late June 2019, Tobias Harris became the first-ever $30-million player in Philadelphia 76ers’ history. Harris, however, with a $32.7-million salary for the 2019-20 season, didn’t rank among the NBA’s 10 highest-paid players.
Despite a $1.7-million salary bump in 2020-21, Harris didn’t crack the top 10 again, nor did the 76ers’ second-ever $30-millon player, Ben Simmons, in the first year of a five-year $167-million deal, or Joel Embiid in the first year of a five-year, $148-million deal. And barring surprising contractual developments within the organization and/or across the NBA, the 76ers won’t have one of the league’s 10 highest-paid players next season or in 2022-23. Nonetheless, they are one of only two teams with three players earning at least $26 million this season as they chase their first championship since 1983. (The Sixers currently fifth in NBA Championship odds in online sports betting.)
With a base salary of $25,467,250, Embiid is tied with Andrew Wiggins (and Nikola Jokic) as the 24th-highest-paid player in the NBA. And like Embiid in Harris and Simmons, Wiggins has two teammates with higher salaries: Klay Thompson (No. 10, $35.4 million) and Steph Curry (No. 1, $43 million). The 76ers don’t have a $40-million player like the Warriors (and four other teams) or two $35-million players like the Warriors and Rockets, but they have more than $94 million committed this year and nearly $325 million over the next four years to three players.
Two-Way Contracts
The NBA’s two-way contract went into effect in 2017-18 as part of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement and allows teams to carry up to two extra players in addition to the 15 players on their roster. Typically, two-way players are limited to 45 days with their NBA team (and the rest with the team’s G League affiliate) and are paid for each day spent on the NBA roster. However, during the shortened 2020-21 season, two-way players may be active for up to 50 of the NBA team’s 72 games and receive a flat salary of $449,155.
These salaries don’t count against the salary cap, but they’re worth mentioning as Dakota Mathias and Paul Reed are making $449,155 apiece as the 76ers’ two-way players.
Dead Cap
The 76ers were one of seven teams with $0 in dead money last year. They have dead money in 2020-21, though on an NBA balance sheet with a nine-figure salary cap, their dead money is negligible. Justin Anderson’s $125,000 dead cap hit is 0.08 percent of the total cap allocation.
For context, Tobias Harris will earn $477,206 for each of the 76ers’ 72 games this season.
2020-21 Salaries
The drop from Embiid to the 76ers’ next highest-paid player, Danny Green, is substantial, as is the drop from Green to Seth Curry and everyone else:
Tobias Harris: $34,358,850
Ben Simmons: $30,559,200
Joel Embiid: $29,542,010
Danny Green: $15,365,854
Seth Curry: $7,834,449
Mike Scott: $5,005,350
Terrance Ferguson: $3,944,013
Tony Bradley: $3,944,013
Matisse Thybulle: $2,711,280
Vincent Poirier: $2,619,207
Tyrese Maxey: $2,478,840
Furhan Korkmaz: $1,762,796
Shake Milton: $1,701,593
Dwight Howard: $1,620,564
Isaiah Joe: $898,310
Future Guaranteed Cash
Harris, Simmons, and Embiid are three of seven players with future guaranteed cash. Their total ($324,779,470) accounts for 93 percent of the organization’s total ($350,291,440):
Ben Simmons: $146,684,160
- 2021-22: $33,616,770
- 2022-23: $35,448,672
- 2023-24: $37,893,408
- 2024-25: $40,338,144
Tobias Harris: $112,899,150
- 2021-22: $35,995,950
- 2022-23: $37,633,050
- 2023-24: $39,270,150
Joel Embiid: $65,196,160
- 2021-22: $31,579,390
- 2022-23: $33,616,770
Seth Curry: $16,704,171
Curry is in the second year of a four-year, $32-million deal:
- 2021-22: $8,186,047
- 2022-23: $8,496,653
Matisse Thybulle: $2,840,160
Thybulle is in the second year of a three-year, $8.1-million deal:
- 2021-22: $2,840,160
Tyrese Maxey: $2,602,920
Maxey is in the first year of a two-year, $5.1-million deal:
- 2021-22: $2,602,920
Shake Milton: $1,846,738
Milton is in the second year of a three-year, $4.9-million deal:
- 2021-22: $1,846,738
Isaiah Joe: $1,517,981
Joe is in the first year of a three-year, $4.2-million deal that only includes guaranteed money through the 2021-22 season:
- 2021-22: $1,517,981
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Andrew Doughty is a writer for BetMGM and host of High Motor, a college football podcast available on Apple Podcasts and everywhere else. He has written for Sports Illustrated, HERO Sports, Bleacher Report, and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter: @adoughty88.
