Well, that didn't work out as well as planned. The Sixers ended up losing out to the Utah Jazz in the race to take aboard all of Golden State's trash. From Woj:
Golden State has reached agreement with Utah on a trade to unload salary, league sources tell Y! Sports.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) July 5, 2013
Golden State is sending Richard Jefferson to Utah as part of deal, league source tells Y! Sports.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) July 5, 2013
Also, @daldridgetnt reports Andris Biedrins will join Jefferson with the Jazz.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) July 5, 2013
Golden State had been looking to free money, and the Sixers were involved in the talks, as Liberty Ballers reported earlier and alluded to yesterday. We heard the ultimate goal was to land Dwight Howard and also possibly Andre Iguodala after that. As it turned out, the Warriors made the salary dump first with Iguodala in mind. Immediately after reporting the trade news, Woj dropped another bomb on all of us:
Andre Igoudala has reached agreement with Golden State on a four year, $48 million deal with the Warriors, league source tells Y! Sports.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) July 5, 2013
As it turned out, the Warriors made the salary dump to ensure Iguodala landed with them. Dumping Andris Biedrins, Richard Jefferson, two future first round picks, two second rounders, and it seems Brandon Rush as well(the only way this deal works out cap-wise) on the Jazz for a non-guaranteed contract gives them enough room to sign Iguodala outright to the $48 million deal.
The three salaries combined for a little $24 million, with just under $800,000 returning, for a net of about $23.2-23.3 million being dumped. The Sixers could not absorb that much salary - at most, they could take $17-18 million in salary over what they sent out, as they couldn't use the trade exception generated from the Jrue Holiday trade while also dropping under the cap. Utah just had more to offer.
Could we still be involved with Golden State's Dwight Howard pursuit? Probably not. To sign Dwight, the Warriors would need to make enough room to fit in the max for Dwight, which should come in at 105% of his prior contract value according to the CBA. According to basketball-reference.com, his salary last year was $19,536,630, so a max next year starts at $20,513,462. Trading Bogut for nothing nets only $14 million, and David Lee's longer contract could put that over the top. However, David Lee gets paid for 3 more years, and his talent would put the Sixers in position to be too good.
In all likelihood, we're out of the Golden State/Howard talks completely. Golden State can still sign-and-trade with the Lakers for Howard, but that's probably the only way they get him. The only way the Sixers get involved going forward is if he decides Houston or Dallas is right for him.