Internally, the Sixers have pegged Young as their top priority during the free agency period. But their strategy will be to match - assuming Young is not offered a contract too far above market value - another team's offer sheet instead of negotiating the deal directly with Young, according to a source with knowledge of the team's thinking.
The value in this strategy is twofold: The Sixers can allow the market to determine Young's value, and then they can sign him to a four-year contract with 4.5 percent raises instead of signing him to a five-year contract with 7.5 percent raises.
The latter is the difference between a Bird contract (a team re-signing its own player) and a free-agent contract (another team's outside offer) under the league's next collective bargaining agreement.
The risk in the Sixers' strategy is that another team will swoop in with a monstrous offer for Young, one the Sixers would hesitate to match.
One Western Conference general manager confirmed that a number of teams would make a play for Young, 23, who averaged 12.5 points and 4.9 rebounds during his four seasons with the Sixers. Another general manager confirmed that there is interest in the 6-foot-8 forward.
The X-factor for the Sixers will be exactly how much interest - in exact dollar value - exists. One source explained that a solid contract offer to Young would be in the range of $28 million to $32 million over four years. The Sixers would match a contract in this range, multiple NBA sources confirmed.
If that contract value begins creeping near $38 million to $40 million and possibly even higher, the Sixers will have a difficult decision to make.
