The Philadelphia 76ers lost to the Indiana Pacers, 112-100, on Friday night. Hours after ESPN's Shams Charania reported that the league was looking into the 76ers for violating the player participation policy, Jeff Dowtin Jr. played a game-high 40 minutes and led the 76ers in scoring with 24 points.
A quick look at the team's depth chart on ESPN.com will leave you with more questions than answers. It's mostly O's. As in out. Everyone is out. And Hoops Hype has found a shocking new way to marvel at just how wild the situation really is.
An incredible 96% of the team's payroll was out against the Pacers.
HOLD ON: WE HAVE A NEW RECORD
— HoopsHype (@hoopshype) March 14, 2025
Sixers have 96 percent of their payroll sidelined right now.
Oh man. pic.twitter.com/FzQhelEV49
Joel Embiid, Paul George and Tyrese Maxey alone account for more than $135 million. Then there's Kelly Oubre Jr., Andre Drummond, Quentin Grimes, Jared McCain, Eric Gordon and Kyle Lowry—who are also out.
The highest paid player on the court on Friday was Guerschon Yabusele, who is making just over $2 million this year.
It somehow looks even worse if you visit Spotrac and look at the percentages of the cap hit. Embiid's cap hit percentage is 36.5%, George is 35% and Maxey is 25%. That's 96.57% right there!
All you need to do to get over 100% of the league's salary cap is add Kelly Oubre's 5.86%. The salary cap this season was $140 million and the Sixers have even more than that in street clothes right now.
If you think about it the Sixers entire payroll is basically just a fine for a season-long violation of the player participation policy. Further punishment just seems cruel.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as The 76ers Have an Unbelievable Percentage of Their Salary Cap Out Injured.
