The Oklahoma City Thunder reportedly traded center Hasheem Thabeet to the Philadelphia 76ers, who will net cash considerations from the deal. While taking on Thabeet's expiring contract inches the 76ers closer to the salary cap minimum, the team still has enough room to potentially take on the contract of New York Knicks veteran Amar'e Stoudemire before the trade deadline.
Oklahoma, seeking to free up cap space, reportedly traded Thabeet's expiring contract of $1.25 million to the Sixers on Tuesday.
"ESPN has learned that Oklahoma City is trading Hasheem Thabeet to Philadelphia," Marc Stein of ESPN tweeted Tuesday. "... Thunder, I'm told, will send cash considerations to Sixers so Philly will absorb Thabeet's contract. OKC thus creates $1.25 million TPE."
Stein added: "Thabeet, I'm told, is likely to be waived immediately by Sixers after completion of trade."
Philadelphia is using its abundance of cap space to accrue draft picks and cash considerations by taking on expiring contracts, which the team would need to do anyways to reach the mandated cap floor of $56.759 million.
The reported Thabeet trade pushes Philadelphia's salary to just under $40 million.
Unless the 76ers are able to continue picking up small contracts like Thabeet's, many believe a deal with New York involving Stoudemire and draft picks is likely.
"What's far more likely is that the long rumored Amar'e Stoudemire to Philadelphia deal gets done at the deadline," Kyler wrote Aug. 19. "The Sixers take on Stoudemire's $23 million salary cap number, which pushes them away over the minimum. They would only owe him roughly 30 percent of his remaining contract, so they'd end up paying him $7 million in cash and likely extract a draft pick or a rookie scale player for their troubles."
