Jalen McDaniels Headed to Toronto: Who Will Replace Him?

Good thing they ducked the tax!

Adam Aaronson, whose legal name is Sixers Adam (@SixersAdam on Twitter), covers the Sixers for The Rights To Ricky Sanchez. He believes cantaloupe is the best food in existence, and is brought to you by the Official Realtor of The Process, Adam Ksebe.

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Sixers free agent forward Jalen McDaniels, acquired in February in exchange for Matisse Thybulle and a draft pick that became #34 overall in last June’s Draft, has agreed to a two-year, $9.3M contract with the Toronto Raptors, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic.

McDaniels flashed some intriguing potential stemming from his athletic tools early on in his time with the Sixers, but missed some time with an injury and failed to make an impact after returning.

McDaniels’ playoff minutes were uneventful, and he was eventually replaced in the rotation by Danuel House Jr.

While the Sixers believed McDaniels could give them solid wing minutes and he had fans in the organization — most notably former Sixers Head Coach Doc Rivers — part of the objective of the February deal was to avoid the luxury tax, which the Sixers barely did when subtracting Thybulle’s salary and replacing it with McDaniels’, which was considerably smaller.

The Sixers have a clear hole on the wing, where they need reliable defenders. They could add one or two of those in a hypothetical James Harden trade, but right now House Jr. is their only reserve wing with a recent history of playing competent minutes.

In my Free Agency Primer, I detailed 100+ free agent and trade targets for the Sixers, who now must look to the wing market to find a viable rotation piece.

I view Brooklyn’s Royce O’Neale as clearly the best option, despite the Sixers needing to trade for him. Some free agents who could help fill the void are Jeff Green and Torrey Craig, who have different skillsets but can both be helpful.

The Sixers currently have access to the taxpayer’s mid-level exception worth a maximum of two years and $10.2M and as many veteran’s minimum contracts as they would like.