This past NBA season was the dictionary definition of a see-saw experience for the 76ers. They underachieved throughout the regular season despite hitting big on rookie VJ Edgecombe as big-money veterans Joel Embiid and Paul George struggled to stay on the floor. In the playoffs Philadelphia exorcised demons by pulling off a remarkable 3–1 upset of the No. 2 seed Celtics before getting absolutely plastered by the Knicks in a non-competitive second-round sweep. It was, in typical Philly fashion, a wild ride of extreme emotions.
But now it’s over, and ownership wants off the ride.
On Tuesday night, two days after the team was eliminated, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported the 76ers had decided to part ways with president of basketball operations Daryl Morey. The veteran executive called the shots for Philadelphia since he was hired in 2020, with his tenure highlighted by big swings that didn’t pan out and a continued failure to get past the second round of the East playoffs despite MVP-caliber play from Joel Embiid.
The Sixers made five playoff appearances and won four postseason series in six seasons under Morey, so it wasn’t a total disaster. But the teams he put together never reached their potential thanks in large part to Morey’s inability to assemble a well-rounded roster around his best players. And the aftereffects of the whole “Daryl Morey is a liar” catastrophe with James Harden still linger around the franchise.
Thus, he’s on his way out. Coach Nick Nurse is not; Charania reports he will remain in place as owner Josh Harris and former Warriors GM Bob Myers (who is president of Harris’s sports and entertainment firm) search for a new front office leader, with Myers taking the reins for the time being. Whoever they choose is going to have one heck of a job in front of them, because Morey leaves quite the mess behind in Philadelphia.
Morey’s successor will have their hands full fixing the 76ers
Morey will likely end up garnering plenty of thanks from Philly fans in the long-term as the leader of the front office that knocked the Tyrese Maxey and Edgecombe picks out of the park. But in the nearer term, the consequences of his decisions will be a lot to handle. Particularly in the cap sheet department.
Let’s start with nine-time All-Star Paul George, who signed a max contract offer from Morey and the Sixers back in 2024. That looked like a risky signing in the moment and is now a huge bust of a deal. George hasn’t played in more than 41 games for Philadelphia in each of his first two seasons wearing a 76ers jersey and averaged fewer than 20 points per game for the first time since 2013. This most recent campaign was marred by a 25-game PED suspension. While the 36-year-old showed he still had something left to give by playing great defense and hitting timely shots against Boston in the first round he disappeared completely against New York in the conference semifinals.
George made $51.6 million last season. He will make $54.1 million next year and has a player option for $56.7 million the following season that he will undoubtedly pick up. Which means Philadelphia is on the hook to pay George over $100 million over the next two years—and it doesn’t seem likely he’ll suddenly start playing like a star again as he moves into his late 30s. That’s an anchor of a contract on the team cap sheet.
But Embiid’s deal is arguably worse. The 76ers signed him to a three-year, $187 million extension in ‘24 after he won MVP in ‘23; that extension will kick in starting this season and will pay the big man roughly $60 million annually until the end of the ‘28–29 season. That will be one of the biggest cap hits in the league from a single player. Which is, obviously, a huge problem considering his health issues. Embiid has played in 58 games in the two seasons since signing that extension. His injuries have become so regularly problematic that he didn’t play back-to-backs throughout this last campaign and still only managed to suit up for 38 contests.
The 32-year-old looked several sleps slower this season than he did in years past. That isn’t going to get any better. Embiid himself even admitted after this postseason that he thought he was “done” as a player after several years of knee injuries. But Philadelphia is tied to his gigantic contract for three more seasons. Between him and George that’s hundreds of millions tied up in two injury-riddled past-their-prime stars. Very few teams can afford to pay two players that much money and still field a contender, even if those two players are among the best in the league. George and Embiid don’t qualify as such anymore—but are still getting paid like it. That is going to hamstring the 76ers as they try to build a quality roster around the Maxey-Edgecombe backcourt.
Which will be the first problem the new front office leader gets to solve. Are those contracts tradeable in any capacity? If not, how hard will they try to move them anyway? Will assets be sacrificed to clear the cap sheet, and if so, what’s the plan to build a contending roster without the maximum number of assets? And that’s without getting into the immediate issues that have to be addressed this offseason with Maxey’s salary set to raise to $40 million next season, such as impending free agency for Kelly Oubre and Quentin Grimes.
The 76ers have a lot going for them because Maxey and Edgecombe figure to star in the city for a long time. But the financial situation is messy and getting out of it will be even more so.
No easy answers will await Morey’s successor.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as 76ers Part Ways With Daryl Morey, Who Leaves Behind a Messy Situation for Next Front Office .
