For weeks now, people have waited for the Sixers to expand their roster from 14 players to 15 players by re-signing restricted free agent Quentin Grimes.

Last week, the team went in the opposite direction.

The Sixers waived Ricky Council IV on Friday, trimming their roster down to 13 players with Grimes' free agency still dragging along. They are now absolved of Council's $2.2 million salary for the 2025-26 season, which would not have become guaranteed until Jan. 10.

In this week's 5 Sixers thoughts, let's dive into Council's tenure with the Sixers, what is next for the vacated roster spot and a pair of other Sixers-adjacent notes from around the league:

Reflecting on Council's two years with the Sixers

As soon as Council went undrafted out of Arkansas in 2023, the Sixers inked him to a two-way contract. The appeal was clear: Council possessed stellar athleticism at wing size and impressive free throw volume. He could get downhill in an instant and the physical profile was enticing.

There was not much expectation that Council would play in the NBA as a rookie. Suddenly, months of DNP-CDs turned into some garbage time appearances, and those garbage time appearances turned into spot rotation minutes pretty quickly. Council scored 17 points in 10 minutes during a blowout loss against the Golden State Warriors. Then came a game in Washington, D.C. that represented his true breakout.

Sixers head coach Nick Nurse believes if a player has something going on a given night, you should ride it for as long as you can. Council was torching the Wizards, so Nurse rode it. Council swung a loss into a win with 19 points and 10 rebounds, logging nearly 30 minutes after never surpassing a dozen in a previous game. Council swung a game in San Antonio in April, and days later was converted to a standard contract covering the final day of his rookie year and each of the next three seasons.

Then came 2024-25. Council entered the season with high hopes for himself and great expectations placed on him by a fan base enamored with his ability to generate dynamic highlights. But unlike in his rookie season, Council was completely incapable of finding that spark plug quality in year two.

It became a chicken and egg sort of situation: Council rushed bad decisions whenever he touched the court because he was trying to impress. Nurse and his staff never trusted Council because of those poor choices. Council led the Sixers in appearances during their nightmarish 24-58 season, but was routinely playing behind guys signed to 10-day hardship exception contracts by the time the season had ended.

Council's three-point shooting remains a significant work in progress, and a stable skill like spot-up shooting would have done wonders for the case to keep him. Without any reliable source of productivity, it was easier for the Sixers to feel turned off by the constant fear of Council making a bad decision. The level of trust in Council seemed to have reached a point so low that it was hard to see him returning. Council being on the Sixers on opening night would have been a surprise; Council being on the Sixers past that Jan. 10 guarantee date would have been stunning.

Hope is not lost for Council, who will turn 24 years old on Friday and is eligible to sign a two-way contract. A team could theoretically claim him since his salary is not guaranteed, but unless that team believes he could legitimately crack their standard roster, there is not much point in derailing his ability to find a home. 

MORE: What did we learn about Sixers during Summer League?

Will Council's roster spot be filled?

Under President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey, the Sixers have often opted to begin the season with 14 players on their standard roster rather than the maximum 15. It provides flexibility in a few ways, from financial (lessening expected luxury tax bills) to team-building (enabling a trade in which they take back an additional player and having an open spot to convert a two-way player that pops early in the season or sign a high-caliber buyout player).

In a vacuum, a hopeful contender with three max contracts on their books is wise to go with 14 players to start the year and carry that flexibility into the winter.

But not this one. Among those three max players are two -- Joel Embiid and Paul George -- whose availability to play at any level is constantly in question.

Embiid and George spearhead a roster that also includes Kyle Lowry, set to turn 40 years old in March and signed for his locker room leadership, not his current basketball ability. It also includes Eric Gordon, both an injury risk and someone whose ability to consistently contribute to an NBA rotation is shaky at best. Andre Drummond is there, too, and after a long run as an elite backup center he had a brutal season. Morey himself has said that the team should not expect rookie big Johni Broome to be ready to play right away.

Even once Grimes is re-signed -- that should still be the expectation, by the way -- this roster does not have close to enough players that the Sixers can certifiably rely on for quality minutes on a consistent basis to justify punting on a roster spot for marginal flexibility. The Sixers tried this last year and got burned badly; their season never got off the ground. Having one extra rotation-caliber player around would not have completely changed their fortunes, but it would have at least given them a better chance of staying afloat.

Even if it is signing a veteran's minimum contract a month into free agency -- or perhaps converting two-way forward Jabari Walker much earlier than anticipated and opening up his two-way spot if there is an intriguing option available to them on that market -- the Sixers should be throwing as many darts as they can in hopes of finding rotation-caliber play, particularly in the frontcourt.

Potential fits in free agency

If the Sixers do end up scanning the market in hopes of finding a player to fill the 15th roster spot in place of Council, there are some players who could be logical fits:

• Trey Lyles will never be a high-upside player, but sometimes good enough can be left alone. Lyles, 29, is a power forward with a long track record of shooting threes at high volume, toughness on the glass and occasional passing flashes. Lyles is a 10-year NBA veteran and played over 1,000 total minutes in nine seasons. Nurse having a stretch four he can pencil in for even 15 minutes each night would go a long way.

• Speaking of Nurse, many have speculated that his connection to Toronto Raptors mainstay Chris Boucher could lead to Boucher joining the Sixers, a team he has routinely torched in his career. Boucher, 32, is not nearly as productive as one might think from just watching him play against the Sixers, but he does have the sort of theoretical positional versatility between power forward and center that would be helpful here after the loss of Guerschon Yabusele.

• Another former Nurse big in Toronto still out there is Precious Achiuwa, who was replaced on the New York Knicks by Yabusele this summer. Achiuwa is an awesome athlete, and while he is not a true rim protector, he has some excellent moments defensively. In fact, Achiuwa swung a playoff game against the Sixers in New York's favor by dominating as a roamer off the ball. He offers similar optionality between the four and five.

MORE: Broome 'has proved people wrong all the way through'

Shake Milton headed overseas

In other news... after being waived by the Los Angeles Lakers to facilitate their signing of Marcus Smart, the Sixers' No. 54 overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft is headed overseas. Shake Milton, 28, is leaving to play in Belgrade after seven NBA seasons.

The first five years of Milton's NBA career came with the Sixers; he spent the last two with five different teams. Milton had a brief period where he had become one of the better young reserve guards in the NBA. But his enticing makeup -- Milton is a tall, long ball-handler with real shooting skill -- never helped him extend his life as a quality contributor past that short spurt. Milton unquestionably crushed expectations for his draft slot and has made over $15 million. Plus, he had a performance so remarkable that it should never go unmentioned:

The absurdity of this game will never be properly understood as more time passes. The Clippers tried guarding Milton with three elite defenders -- George, Patrick Beverley and Kawhi Leonard -- and when each one failed, they had to resort to even more aggressive tactics:

An underrated Sixers trade

Also waived on Friday: former Sixers first-round pick Jaden Springer, who spent the last two months of his fourth NBA season with the Utah Jazz and was let go ahead of the first of two guarantee dates in his deal. Springer was coming off the bench as a fifth-year player in NBA Summer League, and now he is a free agent without two-way eligibility. Despite tremendous athleticism and real defensive talent and effort, Springer's chances of sticking in the NBA are very much on the ropes.

So, it is worth noting that in the middle of Springer's third season, the Sixers were criticized quite a bit for trading him to the rival Boston Celtics for a 2024 second-round pick. Springer never became a regular contributor in Boston, and 364 days after acquiring him by trading a second-round pick -- it eventually slotted in at No. 41 overall -- the Celtics had to pay to shed Springer's salary, with a net loss of a second-round pick. They traded Springer with second-round picks in 2027 and 2030 to the Rockets for a 2031 second-rounder.

It seems that the Sixers cut bait at the right time, as there was some renewed optimism about Springer following what remains his longest run of NBA rotation minutes yet. Instead of eventually letting him walk or having to pay to get him off the books, the Sixers got a pick in the first half of the second round that year. They used that No. 41 overall selection to select... UCLA center Adem Bona.

MORE: Bona talks being patient, knowing his role... and screaming as loud as he can