Since NBA Draft day, we’ve known that the Philadelphia 76ers are sending Al Horford to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for Danny Green and Terrance Ferguson. However, the complete details of the trade have been somewhat unclear, as there’s been some confusion whether 27-year-old French center Vincent Poirier (who the Boston Celtics had just sent to OCK) is also included in the deal. It had been rumored, and French outlet L’Equipe reported on November 26 that Poirier could be heading to Philly, but there had been no other confirmation.
Well, The Athletic’s Derek Bodner has now reported that Poirier is indeed part of the trade, and will be heading to the Sixers. Bodner also explained a couple of salary cap details.
Inclusion of Poirier gets deep into cba nerd speak, but tl;dr:
— Derek Bodner (@DerekBodnerNBA) December 7, 2020
- Allows OKC to function as team over cap, and not renounce their massive TPE. Green+Ferguson alone wouldn't have matched salary.
- While still maximizing the traded player exception the Sixers will generate ($8.2m).
The Sixers announced earlier today that they have waived Lamine Diane and Justin Robinson, who had both been signed to Exhibit 10 contracts. The team’s roster was at 20 players before waiving Diane and Robinson, so they needed to clear roster space before they could take on Green, Ferguson and now Poirier in the Horford trade.
Poirier joins the Sixers after spending his rookie season in the NBA with the Celtics. He only appeared in 22 games and played just 130 total minutes, averaging 1.9 points, 2 rebounds, and 0.4 blocks in 5.9 minutes per game. Poirier has one more year left on his contract with a salary of $2,619,207 for 2020-21.
So, after a rather long wait and some final roster adjustments, it’s almost time for the Horford trade to be complete, as it can become official this Tuesday.