76ers to match Jazz's offer sheet to Paul Reed

Utah offered a unique three-year, $23M contract to Reed, who was Joel Embiid‘s primary backup last season.

Only the first year of the contract is guaranteed. The Jazz used their $7.7M room exception to complete Reed’s offer sheet.

The last two years of the contract, totaling $15.7M, will become guaranteed if the Sixers reach the conference semifinals next season. The same unusual contract clause of reaching the conference semifinals would have applied to the Jazz if Philadelphia had declined to match.

Considering that the Sixers have gotten past the first round in five of the last six seasons, it’s more likely they will advance past the first round next season than the Jazz — though Utah is on the upswing after shaking up its roster last offseason.

The approach used by the Jazz certainly gave Philadelphia more pause to match the offer sheet but it ultimately decided to hold onto a valuable reserve.

By matching, the Sixers have created more luxury tax issues for themselves. They’ll exceed the $165M luxury tax threshold at a cost of an estimated $14M in tax penalties. Reed will also have the option to veto trades for a year, due to the Sixers’ decision to match.

The Sixers now have a crowded frontcourt behind Embiid after agreeing to re-sign Montrezl Harrell and signing free agent Mohamed Bamba.

Reed saw his role expand in his third NBA season as he averaged 4.2 points and 3.8 rebounds in 69 regular-season games.