Why the 76ers decided to sign-and-waive Pierre Jackson

It's been a complicated 15 months for Pierre Jackson.

Acquired in a 2013 draft-night trade by the New Orleans Pelicans, the No. 42 overall pick got little run in the 2013 Summer League. With no place apparent with the Pelicans, Jackson signed with ASVEL Villeurbanne in France, only to then leave the team to return stateside before the season began.

Jackson found himself in a strange spot with the Idaho Stampede of the D-League. While the D-League is just a step away from the NBA and Jackson dominated, leading the league in scoring by a landslide, he couldn't be called up by any team but the Pelicans, who owned his draft rights. The Pelicans, meanwhile, were flush with guards and unwilling to drop another player off the roster to sign Jackson, burning the first rookie scale year on his contract. Jackson finished out his year with Fenerbahce Ulker in Istanbul once the D-League wrapped.

In an interesting twist of fate on draft night in June, Jackson was dealt to the Philadelphia 76ers - who originally owned the pick used to select him - for the No. 47 pick. The #FreePierreJackson movement had finally worked.

And then, because the world is a terrible place, Jackson ruptured his right Achilles at Summer League, ending his 2014-15 season before it got started.

Jackson still lands a 1-year deal

In late July, the 76ers appeared to do Jackson a major favor, signing him to a one-year contract at the league's rookie minimum of $507,336, guaranteeing $400,000 of it. Jackson's timeline hadn't changed, and the team wasn't expecting him to return to play this season, and so it appeared the team was just doing the player a solid since he got hurt while playing for their Summer League team.

That's an expensive favor, made even stranger by the 76ers decision to waive Jackson on Tuesday. By doing so, the team sacrifices Jackson's Bird rights, meaning he's now an unrestricted free agent when he's back to full health.

On the surface, it looks like the 76ers just gave Jackson $400,000 for his injury trouble while also freeing him from his draft-rights obligation to the team.

The price of loyalty

NBA franchises, for the most part, aren't dumb and aren't wont to just burn money for the sake of goodwill. If Philadelphia guaranteed Jackson money and then waived him, they surely did so with a purpose.

To really understand the move, it needs to be noted that the 76ers are well under the league's salary floor. Any amount a team is below the floor at season's end still has to be paid out, spread across the players on its roster. In other words, Jackson's $400,000 is money the team would have had to pay to someone, anyway, unless they inexplicably land above the floor at some point. The money is real, but it comes from funds that were already guaranteed for salary.

By waiving him instead of keeping him injured on the bench all season, the Sixers also free a roster spot they can use to roll the dice on another young player. The team is flush with non-guaranteed contracts and appear set to replicate their 2013-14 strategy of cycling through available players until they find valuable pieces. Since Jackson is unlikely to return - he's back to basketball activities but in the very early stages of rehabilitation - waiving him lets the team try to find another productive piece.

The cost to the Sixers, then, exists entirely in risk. Jackson is now an unrestricted free agent when he's healthy, and the team hopes to have bought his loyalty by paying for a rehabilitation season.

Should Jackson appreciate the gesture and sign back in Philly next summer, the Sixers stand to benefit. Because Jackson isn't on the roster, he doesn't accrue a year of service, and will therefore be considered a rookie once again in 2015-16. Looking at the minimum salaries commensurate with years of experience, it's clear what the Sixers are thinking:

This is really a win-win, albeit a slight risk on the part of the Sixers. Jackson gets paid for a season spent rehabilitating an injury he suffered while with the team, and Philadelphia hopefully buys some loyalty, allowing them to bring Jackson back at a more favorable rate in future years.