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It appears that the Philadelphia 76ers once again are using its available salary to make roster moves with the future in mind. The team claimed veteran point guard Mo Williams off waivers Friday with the intent, reportedly, of using his contract to reach the salary floor.
Philly's motivation for claiming Mo Williams would be the same as Denver trading for him: To get $2.2 million closer to the salary floor.
— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) January 20, 2017
The spike in the floor this season to $84.7 million already appears to have teams scurrying to find ways to reach it and avoid paying the excess to its players. Currently, the Sixers have the No. 29 payroll in the NBA at just over $76.3 million. Williams’ cap hit of slightly over $2.19 million has the Sixers at around $6.6 million left to hit the floor.
While Stein reports that the Sixers are preventing the Nuggets from following similar procedure, the Denver Post’s Chris Dempsey reported that Williams’ salary still counts for them after being acquired in a deal earlier in the week.
There shouldn’t be any relation concerns regarding the Sixers and Nuggets. Bryan Colangelo made an isolated move in order to get the Sixers to the salary floor. According to Calkins Media’s Tom Moore, Williams was released in favor of signing Chasson Randle to a second 10-day contract.
Philadelphia was Williams’ third team in 2017, being a part of the Kyle Korver-Cleveland deal and a salary dump with Denver.