The reason why LeBron James can’t actually sign a two-year contract with Philadelphia 76ers (yet)
· Yahoo Sports
LeBron James’ new two-year, $8 million contract with the Philadelphia 76ers might be signed, but the franchise still can’t officially sign the 41-year-old.
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The 76ers will start the season with LeBron on the roster, but the team still has some minor roster maneuvering to complete before they can officially sign the all-time leading scorer.
With the NBA’s punitive apron rules, the 76ers offering James a two-year contract has created a minor roadblock they need to clear.
76ers can’t officially sign LeBron James due to NBA’s apron rules
Bobby Marks revealed on the Hoop Collective podcast that the 76ers can’t functionally sign James until they make some roster adjustments to become apron-compliant.
“If you sign a 1-year veteran deal, for cap tax purposes. $2.4 million counts against the cap. It doesn’t matter if you’re 10 years of service or five years of service.”
“This is a two-year deal, which is $3.9 million in the first year. There’s no salary reimbursement; the full amount will count against the cap. So, when you do the math, they’re hard capped at the first apron. This pushes them over the first apron by about 600,000.”
The 76ers are also expected to sign Kentavious Caldwell-Pope on a veteran’s minimum contract, so it’s almost guaranteed the 76ers have some pending moves to become cap compliant.
Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty ImagesThe franchise is expected to move some end-of-rotation players like Dalen Terry, Jabari Walker, or Johni Broome to make sure the veteran duo of James and Pope can join while ensuring the franchise is under the first apron hard cap.
If LeBron accepted a one-year veteran’s minimum contract, the 76ers would have about $1 million under the first apron cap because James’ $3.9 million deal would count as $2.4 million.
The 76ers would need to make roster moves anyway to sign James and other veterans, so it makes sense that the team didn’t overthink the cap realities and gave James the kind of minimum contract that he would be comfortable taking.
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