NBA free agency news: Sixers add Dean Wade, making Kelly Oubre Jr. and Quentin Grimes returns less likely

Mike Gansey’s first free-agency move as the 76ers’ president of basketball operations is adding a player with whom he is quite familiar.

Dean Wade has agreed to a four-year, $39 million contract with the Sixers, a league source confirmed to The Inquirer late Tuesday. The deal comes out of the nontaxpayer mid-level exception.

Wade was one of Gansey’s success stories in his previous job as the Cleveland Cavaliers’ general manager. Wade evolved from undrafted player to rotation forward, and last season averaged 5.8 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.5 assists in 22.3 minutes across 59 games. His 6-foot-9, 230-pound frame allows for defensive versatility, and he is a career 36.7% three-point shooter.

After a few days of reports pointing otherwise, it seems Pistons center and former Roman Catholic star Jalen Duren could be staying put in Detroit.

On Tuesday, ESPN’s Marc J. Spears reported that the Pistons have offered the most “lucrative contract possible for their All-Star restricted free agent,” adding that the team will match any other team’s offer.

The news comes a day after NBA insider Chris Haynes reported Duren was set to meet with the Sacramento Kings at the start of free agency. Haynes added that Duren’s camp and the Pistons were a “sizable distance apart” in contract negotiations, and Duren was hoping to depart Detroit in a sign and trade.

Could LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers be indirectly holding up the Sixers’ potential free agency moves?

After James told the Los Angeles Lakers earlier Tuesday that he intended to sign with a new team, he naturally became attached to another reunion with his hometown Cavaliers. Cleveland also is reportedly aiming to work on a new multi-year deal with James Harden, whom they traded for at the February deadline.

All of that would require clearing cap space to add James. To do this, The Stein Line’s Jake Fischer reported earlier Tuesday that the Cavaliers were exploring options to trade Max Strus and Dennis Schroder.

The NBA Cup championship will head to a more intimate venue for the 2026-27 season.

Previously held in Las Vegas, it will be held in Hinkle Fieldhouse on Butler's campus in Indianapolis, which holds only 9,100 spectators.

Called Indiana's Basketball Cathedral, the arena was constructed in 1928 and has hosted the Butler basketball and volleyball programs for nine decades.

Though we are about 30 minutes from the official opening of free agency, agreed-upon deals between players and their current teams have been trickling in for the past few days. Teams can begin negotiating with their own free agents when the season ends, aka once the New York Knicks won Game 5 of the NBA Finals to clinch the title.

None of that news has involved the Sixers, who have five free agents in Kelly Oubre Jr., Quentin Grimes, Andre Drummond, Trendon Watford, and Kyle Lowry.

That is not entirely surprising, given the Sixers have limited financial flexibility. The front office must weigh how much it would cost to bring Oubre and/or Grimes back vs. outside players it could get on a midlevel exception. And depending on how all the dominoes fall, the Sixers could have the non-taxpayer midlevel exemption of about $15 million (plus the $5.5 biannual exception), or the taxpayer midlevel of about $6.1 million.

Did Trendon Watford hint that he does not plan to return to the Sixers?

Though the Sixers on Monday afternoon declined the forward's $2.8 million team option for 2026-27, that did not prevent him from coming back on a new one-year or longer-term deal.

But after news broke of the Sixers’ decision, Watford posted to his Instagram story. The photo inside a UCLA gym — where several NBA players train and play pickup games during the offseason — was nothing out of the ordinary. But his song choice was Future’s “Ain’t Coming Back.”

If the Kawhi Leonard trade from the Los Angeles Clippers to Toronto Raptors crosses the finish line — and it reportedly has — that is good news for the Sixers. Not necessarily in the short term, given that could catapult the Raptors into the upper tier of the Eastern Conference.

But if the Clippers go into a full rebuild, the 2028 unprotected first-round pick and 2029 pick swap that the Sixers acquired in the 2023 James Harden blockbuster will become much more valuable.

Even before this potential Leonard deal, the Clippers were trending in this direction. They traded Harden to the Cleveland Cavaliers and standout center Ivica Zubac to the Indiana Pacers at the deadline. They also have lost Norman Powell and, of course, Paul George in recent years.

LeBron James' decision to leave the Lakers will have ripple effects that shudder throughout the league for years to come.

One immediate impact in Los Angeles will be the loss off LeBron fans who have already started to share their disenchantment with the franchise.

One fan called Luka Doncic a "fraud" for deciding to sit out of the Lakers' postseason series with a hamstring injury. Another shared social media posts of LeBron taking off a Lakers jersey with the caption, "Ight, Lakers fans. It's been real. WE OUT."

For the first time since the 2018 offseason, LeBron James is on the move, after informing the Lakers he won't return and will look to play his 24th NBA season elsewhere.

The last time James was seeking a new team, the four-time MVP gave Philadelphia a look.

Although many considered James to Los Angeles to be a done deal at the time, he did consider joining the 76ers in 2018. In an interview with ESPN’s Rachel Nichols after signing with the Lakers, James mentioned that he chose the Lakers over the likes of the Sixers and the Houston Rockets — two teams that boasted more talent than LA at the time — to help cement his legacy as a great.

LeBron James informed the Los Angeles Lakers that he will not re-sign with the team after 8 seasons and one title in Tinseltown.

So where could he land? A number of suitors have emerged through various reports, including the two franchises with which he spent the first 15 seasons of his career.

According to NBA Insiders Chris Haynes (NBA on Prime), Jake Fischer (SteinLine), and Brian Windhorst (ESPN), the Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat and Golden State Warriors could all be in play.

We are still hours away from free agency officially opening, and the backup center market is already shrinking.

Robert Williams and Jock Landale earlier Tuesday reportedly agreed to terms to return to their respective teams, the Portland Trail Blazers and Atlanta Hawks. Landale's deal is for one year and $14 million and Williams' is for three years and $44 million, according to ESPN's Shams Charania.

So who else could still be in play for the Sixers?

As the Sixers search for ways to bolster their roster, keep an eye on these six players as options at forward and center ...

John Collins

Collins could slide into a starting forward spot if Oubre leaves. The sensational athlete has become an improved shooter since getting off the perpetual trade block with the Atlanta Hawks, connecting on 40.6% of his three-point attempts last season with the Los Angeles Clippers.

This is tricky to determine right now, because it could be dependent on if Kelly Oubre Jr., and/or Quentin Grimes returns.

If both players depart, the Sixers are likely to have the non-taxpayer midlevel exception (approximately $15 million) and the biannual exception ($5.5 million). If they re-sign one or both players, they likely will only have the $6.1 taxpayer midlevel exception.

For what it’s worth, earlier this month Bob Myers specifically referenced the non-taxpayer midlevel exception as a free-agency tool, suggesting the Sixers are using that as a starting point and will weigh the players they could sign on that deal vs. the return of Oubre or Grimes. And if the Sixers cross into the “apron” penalties, it will limit their ability to make in-season trades because of new collective bargaining agreement rules.

If the Sixers are going to improve, it's going to need to be on the margins.

That is the reality facing new 76ers president of basketball operations Mike Gansey, whom Myers led the search to hire, and the remaining front office as NBA free agency begins at 6 p.m. Tuesday. All-NBA third-team guard Tyrese Maxey ($41 million), along with former perennial All-Stars Joel Embiid ($59.5 million) and Paul George ($54.1 million), remain on max contracts accounting for nearly $155 million of the projected $165 million salary cap. And the latter two players are considered difficult to trade because of their age and recent injury history.

So the Sixers must again hope for better health with that top-heavy roster during the 2026-27 season, which could turn that flash from the playoff upset of the Boston Celtics into more consistency. Yet that postseason run, which ended in being swept by the eventual NBA champion New York Knicks, also exposed that the Sixers must bolster their depth, requiring shrewd around-the-edges moves with limited financial flexibility.