The Sixers’ 2024 NBA trade deadline hinges on De’Anthony Melton.
Are we certain Melton won’t be included in the trade if the Sixers want to improve their starting lineup at the trade deadline?
Asking prices are coming into focus with less than two weeks until the NBA trade deadline on February 8. Teams are reportedly expecting at least one first-round selection, even for the majority of role players.
The Detroit Pistons are looking for “a good first-round draft pick and a good player” in exchange for Bojan Bogdanovic, according to James Edwards III of The Athletic. The Brooklyn Nets reportedly want the “equivalent of two first-round picks” in exchange for Dorian Finney-Smith, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. Additionally, Scotto stated that in order for the Golden State Warriors to even consider dealing Jonathan Kuminga, they would need “a package involving an All-Star player or an overpay of draft picks.” That’s it, then.
The Sixers may alter their deadline targets if they think Kyle Lowry will sign with them following his anticipated buyout. They may then focus more on the wings and bigs that they’re also thinking about, making a backup ball-handler less important. The next two weeks will be crucial because they haven’t surfaced in many speculations thus far; if anything, they’re merely brushing off reports about their purported interest in players like Zach LaVine and Dejounte Murray.
With Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey at center and point guard, respectively, the Sixers are clearly set at those positions. Although Nicolas Batum has been invaluable, his unclear future beyond this season makes him a wild card in the days building up to the trade deadline. Although some supporters might trade Tobias Harris for a Crumbl cookie, he is more difficult to sell due to his $39.3 million contract until the Sixers sign a top player to a max or near-max deal.
De’Anthony Melton is the remaining player, having missed nine out of the last 11 games and all six of the previous six due to a lumbar spinal problem. Melton is getting ready to play again and is going on the team’s road trip, according to Paul Hudrick of the Liberty Ballers. However, he won’t be reevaluated until Wednesday and will be out of commission until then.
Melton’s replacement, Kelly Oubre Jr., has been starting, but in the last few weeks, he has been mainly awful. The Sixers cannot afford to take a chance on relying too much on Oubre in a postseason run this Embiid season if they do not believe that Melton will return to full strength soon. That might make them reevaluate if they really need to go for a 2-guard upgrade by February 8.
Should they want to do so, they will need to give Melton a lot of thought in the return.
Melton, whose contract is set to expire at $8.0 million, has started all 33 of his games this season and 58 of his 77 games from the previous campaign. Even though he is only shooting 39.3 percent from the field, he is averaging a career-high 11.8 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 2.1 threes, and 1.6 steals in just 29.1 minutes per game.
Although Melton’s efficiency raises questions, he is essentially a prototypical three-and-D guard in a league where skill is valued highly. In free agency this offseason, it’s unlikely that he’ll have to accept anything less than the $12.95 million non-taxpayer mid-level exemption, if not significantly more. His starting background for a team that is a contender for a championship will help him, but a modification to the NBA’s new collective bargaining agreement might also.
Teams had to reach the salary floor—90% of the cap in a given year—by the last day of the regular season under the previous CBA. If they didn’t, they were required to allocate the gap to the players on their squad, regardless of how far they were from ninety percent. Apart from that, they were not penalized.
Teams must reach the salary floor under the new CBA by the opening day of play. Should they fail to do so, they will lose their portion of the revenue collected from luxury-tax clubs across the league. Both the Los Angeles Clippers and the Golden State Warriors will probably receive eight-figure checks because they are currently expected to have nine-figure tax payments. Teams will do everything in their power to avoid losing that money.
It’s possible that the Indiana Pacers are now setting the standard for the pay floor. This past summer, they gave Bruce Brown a two-year, $45 million contract, which they traded for Pascal Siakam earlier this month along with three first-round selections. For the 2024–25 season, Brown has a $23 million team option with the Raptors, so this was essentially a one– or two–year balloon deal.
It’s unclear if the Pacers offered Brown such a large contract in order to help them meet the salary floor or in order to pursue salary matching. In any case, other teams might decide to do the same this offseason and offer players who should retain their trade value huge, short-term contracts. Like, instance, players in three and D.
The Sixers’ willingness to re-sign Melton at that price will probably depend on how much the player expects to make each year going into free agency, which is estimated to be between $15 and $20 million. Melton might potentially prefer a starting opportunity somewhere this summer if they acquire an upgrade at 2-guard and force him to the bench. Melton may be best served as a third guard off the bench for the squad, but as a 25-year-old who has started all but 19 of the 110 games he has played in the last two seasons, one would think otherwise.
The Sixers will have to be careful about who they sell one of their three first-round picks for at the trade deadline since they can only access two more on the eve of the 2024 NBA draft. In particular, their completely unprotected 2028 Clippers first-round choice ought to be a highly prized trade asset. They ought to be unwilling to forfeit that in exchange for anything less than a star.
Melton, Robert Covington’s contract that is about to expire, and a 2026 first-round pick (their own or the one they are due from OKC, HOU, or LAC) ought to be enough to at least entice other clubs to give them a call. That might not be sufficient for LaVine or Murray, but maybe they could trade Melton, Covington, and a couple of second-round picks for Bogdan Bogdanovic or someone similar without even having to add a first-round pick.
The Sixers are under no obligation to deal Melton by the deadline. The starting lineup for the Sixers, which consists of Embiid, Maxey, Melton, Batum, and Harris, has a staggering plus-33.3 net rating. Rather than tampering with their starting lineup at full strength, they may mostly be seeking to strengthen their bench.
But by the deadline, the Sixers’ only two untouchable players were Maxey and Embiid. In the appropriate situation, the supporting cast is all disposable, regardless of how much value they bring. Melton is included in that, especially if the Sixers decide to send him to the bench and keep him there for the long run.
The Sixers will probably decide to retain Melton, Batum, and Harris in their lineup. However, if they think they can find an improvement at that position, they should be willing to use Melton—whom they might lose for nothing in free agency this summer—to acquire a long-term solution next to Maxey.
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