Every Tuesday, I put together a Sixers mailbag in which I answer three questions submitted by readers on Twitter or Bluesky. It is one of the weekly staples of our Sixers coverage here, but it is going to be a bit different this week.

Instead of picking three specific questions to answer, I am going to put all of my focus on one overarching topic that tons of people continue to ask about: the eventual conversions of Dominick Barlow and Jabari Walker, two power forwards shining for the Sixers on two-way contracts, to standard deals that will make them part of the team’s full-time roster. Barlow and Walker have starred in their roles all season long, with both becoming rotation fixtures and stabilizing a position that was perceived as the Sixers’ biggest weakness before the season began.

I have always been interested in the inner machinations of the NBA’s salary cap, and my hope has been that my knowledge of the league’s complicated rules would inform my coverage of the Sixers. That does not just include guidelines for contract structures and trade frameworks, but also the usage of two-way signees, whose availability is limited by multiple complex restrictions.

Before the start of the 2024-25 season, I was reasonably confident that Sixers two-way point guard Jeff Dowtin Jr. would earn a standard contract. I decided to get out ahead of it and learn all of the different rules governing two-way signees. Dowtin did not end up meeting my expectations, but as the Sixers now have Barlow and Walker shining on two-way deals, I am suited to answer the question: when and how will Barlow and Walker get converted to standard deals?

To be clear: there is not any code that I or anyone else can crack here and identify an exact sequence of events that will occur. If anything, this will be more of an FAQ about all things conversion, from the rules that are forcing the Sixers to do them at all to the ones dictating when they take place.

Why do Barlow and Walker need to be converted at all?

Two-way players are not eligible to play beyond the regular season. If the Sixers made the Play-In Tournament or the NBA Playoffs and Barlow and Walker were on two-way contracts, neither would be allowed to play. Additionally, teams are limited in the number of games in which each of their two-way players can be active. Barlow is the Sixers’ current starting power forward and Walker is among their most trusted reserves.

What are the rules limiting two-way availability?

Two rules come into play here. The second one is what will impact the Sixers first, but they will both be relevant in the next two months:

• No two-way player is allowed to be active for more than 50 games (if a player is dressed for a game and does not come off the bench, it still counts against their 50-game limit).

• Teams are not allowed to have two-way players active more than 90 times during a season while their standard roster is below the maximum 15 players. Since the Sixers have been at 14 players on their standard roster all season, every activation for Barlow, Walker or Hunter Sallis has counted against their 90-game limit. If the Sixers use up all 90 of their sub-15 activations and then fill their vacant standard roster spot for the remainder of the season, they would then be able to use what is left of their two-way players’ 50-game totals.

MORE: How Barlow and Walker have carved out key rotation roles

Can the Sixers sign Barlow and Walker to multi-year deals?

Yes, they can. The Sixers did not use any form of the mid-level exception during the offseason, and because Quentin Grimes surprisingly ended up on the $8.7 million qualifying offer rather than a long-term contract with a higher starting salary, the team is currently just over $1 million below the first apron. If the Sixers’ entire sequence of moves – namely the conversions of Barlow and Walker and an ensuing move to clear an additional standard roster spot – leaves them below the first apron, they can sign Barlow and Walker to contracts with the non-taxpayer’s mid-level exception, which can go up to four years in duration (the remainder of the 2025-26 season would be considered the first season of a multi-year deal).

The Sixers’ goal should be to stay under the first apron as they convert Barlow and Walker so that their new deals can run for as long as possible. If they cannot do so – or either of Barlow or Walker does not want to cede that sort of long-term control to the team and would rather ink a shorter pact – the team can still do a two-year deal. With no mid-level exception available last season, the team converted Justin Edwards and Jared Butler on rest-of-season veteran’s minimum contracts with team options for the 2025-26 season to maintain an extra year of leverage.

Both Barlow and Walker have minimum salaries of $2,378,870 as players entering the season with three years of NBA experience, but assuming Barlow and Walker get converted eventually, their 2025-26 salaries will be prorated based on that number and how many days are left in the season at the time of their signings. For example, if one of them signed a contract exactly at the halfway mark of this season, their prorated salary for 2025-26 would be $1,189,435, 50 percent of their minimum salary.

Any multi-year deals Barlow and Walker sign can have up to annual raises of up to five percent, but that raise comes off the $2,378,870 number, not their prorated figure. That means their 2026-27 salary would be worth $2,497,814 if they received the full five-percent increase.

MORE: When ‘the lights came on,’ VJ Edgecombe met another moment in MSG debut

How much longer can the Sixers afford to keep Barlow and Walker on two-way deals?

Entering Tuesday’s game against Brooklyn, the Sixers have 34 games remaining of sub-15 two-way activation. That means, if Barlow and Walker are both active for every game and Sallis remains inactive, the Sixers can get through 17 more games until running out of two-way availability, at which point they would need to fill their vacant standard roster spot to use any two-way players’ remaining games.

If that happens, the Sixers would get through a Jan. 24 home game against the New York Knicks safely. They would have used 44 of Walker’s days, 35 of Barlow’s days and 11 of Sallis’ days – and all 90 of the sub-15 days.

The Sixers’ next game would be on Jan. 26, in Charlotte against the Hornets. If they converted either of Barlow or Walker on that day, their prorated minimum salary would be $1,052,718. If the deal lasted three or four years – the Sixers’ hope should be that both conversions are on long-term deals of that sort – it would hard-cap the Sixers at the first apron. According to Yossi Gozlan’s projections at capsheets.com, the Sixers currently have $1,063,492 below that threshold. It is a remarkable squeeze that would not work even one day earlier.

So, if the Sixers want to exhaust their two-way usage before performing any conversions – that is standard practice around the NBA, for reasons related to salary cap and luxury tax hits as well as maximum roster maneuverability – they have exactly enough time on their hands. They can use up those 90 sub-15 days, then pick one of Barlow or Walker to convert. Because their standard roster would expand to 15 players, the Sixers would then be able to use up the remaining days of whichever of Barlow or Walker they did not convert (as well as those of Sallis).

Once it is time to convert the second of Barlow and Walker, the Sixers would need to make a trade that opens up a roster spot and sheds a small amount of money.

The simplest solution: a salary dump of Eric Gordon, the seldom-used veteran on an expiring salary of just over $2.3 million. It could cost the Sixers a second-round pick to trade Gordon; they could also give a team the equivalent of his salary or more in cash to take on his salary cap hit without actually incurring a financial loss. Some unwanted salaries are difficult to move. Gordon’s should not be. The Sixers could then immediately convert whichever of Barlow and Walker had not already inked a new contract.

But, back to the initial point that there is no obvious sequence of events here: the Sixers could make any number of trades at the deadline, either to bolster their rotation or duck the luxury tax threshold or, possibly, try to thread a difficult needle and do both at once. Those deals could impact the financials involved here.

But if things remain status quo and Barlow and Walker avoid injury, it is the Jan. 26 game that looms as a potential checkpoint of sorts.

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