According to Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports, the Sixers are dealing Richaun Holmes to the Phoenix Suns in exchange for “cash considerations.” Holmes is slated to make $1.6M next season, but is on a non-guaranteed contract and likely would have either been cut by the Sixers or buried in the depth chart.
In his three-year Sixers tenure, Holmes played 156 games, with averages of 16.9 minutes, 7.4 points, and 4.2 rebounds per game. He could never maintain stable playing time, as he was never able to gain the trust of the coaching staff because of defensive struggles at the center position.
According to reports, this was the precursor to another move- just minutes later (as first reported by Charania), the Sixers are now signing 2017 second-round pick Jonah Bolden to a four-year, $7M rookie contract.
According to Derek Bodner of The Athletic, only the first two years of Bolden’s deal are guaranteed.
After showing much promise in the 2017 Las Vegas Summer League, Bolden’s run in Vegas this summer was not as encouraging. Despite showing immense defensive upside, he struggled mightily on the offensive end. It is unclear what Bolden’s role will be right off the bat. The Sixers could follow the conservative path for him with the amount of bigs already on roster, potentially focusing strictly on long-term development, rather than putting him in games in a minor role right away.