When the 76ers signed veteran big man Mo Bamba as a backup center on a minimum contract, it felt like insurance for this possible eventuality.
Paul Reed — B-Ball Paul — the popular Philadelphia backup center, has signed a three-year, $24 million offer sheet with the Utah Jazz, a story reported by multiple people, including Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
Philadelphia 76ers restricted free agent F Paul Reed Jr., has signed a three-year, $23M offer sheet with the Utah Jazz, his agent Ron Shade of Octagon Basketball tells ESPN. Sixers have until Sunday at 11:59 PM ET to match sheet and retain Reed. pic.twitter.com/0OTh1W1iPe
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 8, 2023
The Jazz are paying for the first year with their room exception, reports Bobby Marks of ESPN.
The first year of the Reed contract will come out of the Jazz room midlevel exception.
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) July 8, 2023
Utah used cap space to acquire John Collins and renegotiate/extend Jordan Clarkson.
The Clarkson salary this year increased from $14.3M to $23.5M. https://t.co/HbzNc85UNZ
While this is a three-year offer sheet, only the first season is fully guaranteed, reports Wojnarowski. The second two years only become guaranteed if the Jazz make the second round of the playoffs this upcoming season, something certainly not impossible bot also not likely in a deep Western Conference.
It’s not an unreasonable amount for Reed or for Philadelphia to match, except that doing so puts the 76ers into the luxury tax and costs them at least $14 million on top of the salary. That may be more than Philly wants to absorb for a backup center.
Reed is a fan favorite in Philadelphia and with the NBA’s analytics crowd, but that has never led to impressive counting stats. He averaged 4.2 points and 3.8 rebounds a game last season in Philly in 11 minutes a night, but he seems primed for a larger role.
The 76ers have until midnight Sunday to match.
