SAN FRANCISCO — On Feb. 4, 2025, Quentin Grimes finished a shootaround in Philly as a Dallas Maverick and then, while at the team hotel, became a 76er.
“Well, I’m already here,” Grimes recalled thinking back then. “I don’t have to go far at all.”
The 25-year-old guard is coming up on one year since he changed teams during a whirlwind trade deadline. In the months since then, Grimes has put up career numbers while the Sixers tanked to end last season. He went through a messy restricted free agency before signing a one-year, $8.7 million qualifying offer. And he has navigated an up-and-down 2025-26 season as a sixth man before he can enter unrestricted free agency this summer.
Entering Thursday’s trade deadline, Grimes’ expiring contract comes with a massive caveat — that he can veto any proposed deal. When asked Monday if he envisions any scenario that he would approve a deal, Grimes responded, “Nah, I haven’t even thought about that.” But Grimes does feel some relief that he will not be caught off guard by any move.
“It’s a little different now,” Grimes said Monday before the Sixers’ 128-113 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers. “Because nothing’s going to happen unexpectedly on my [end].”
Another reason Grimes might not waive that no-trade clause? That would cause him to lose his “Bird” rights, which allow a team to re-sign its own players for a higher salary. So unless Grimes viewed a potential landing spot as an ideal long-term fit, he likely wouldn’t approve a deal.
Grimes is averaging 13.0 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and one steal in 46 games. The dip in role and production from last season, when he averaged 21.9 points in 28 games with the Sixers, is understandable. When he arrived after the trade with Dallas, the Sixers put the ball in Grimes’ hands as a leading scorer while the bulk of the roster was injured and the organization transitioned to vying for a high draft pick.
Sixers guard Quentin Grimes is averaging 13.0 points in a reserve role this season.
After looking like an NBA Sixth Man of the Year contender early this season, Grimes hit shooting ruts for stretches of December and January. He has connected on just 26% of his three-point attempts in his past 14 games. Sixers coach Nick Nurse last month publicly floated the idea of putting Grimes in the starting lineup to try to jump-start his play, though that never materialized.
Now, though, Grimes is in line for more immediate opportunity after starting wing Paul George was suspended 25 games for violating the NBA’s anti-drug policy.
Nurse said the Sixers need Grimes’ consistently “great effort” as a perimeter defender, where George was such an important tone-setter. Ditto for Grimes’ scoring punch off the bench. Nurse added that he wants Grimes to increase his three-point attempts beyond the 5.5 he averages this season and certainly more than the 3.5 in his past 11 games.
Nurse also noted Grimes’ ability to play double-digit-minute stretches, typically to join the lineups featuring the starters that close both halves.
“That’s possible if he’s in his groove a little bit,” Nurse said. “We’ve just got to help him get back to that.”
Grimes has flashed that impact during the first two games of the Sixers’ Western Conference road trip.
He scored 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting — including a nasty dunk — and added four assists in Monday’s victory over the Clippers. The next night, in a 113-94 win at the Golden State Warriors, Grimes finished with 10 points, five rebounds, and three assists. He mixed sharp drives to the basket with step-back three-pointers. And he was a key component of the Sixers’ bench unit that built a 15-point second-quarter lead and helped put the game away in the final period.
Quentin Grimes is in line for more playing time after the 25-game suspension of Paul George.
“Kind of getting back into a rhythm,” Grimes said when asked about his goals before the mid-February All-Star break, “how I kind of was early in the season.”
Grimes’ first full season with the Sixers comes after both sides were unable to reach an agreement on a long-term contract in restricted free agency. The barren leaguewide market, a product of the new collective bargaining agreement and its “apron” penalties, meant Grimes did not receive an offer sheet from another team that he could have used as leverage. Since signing the one-year qualifying offer in October, Grimes has switched his representation to CAA.
Last year reminded Grimes that “things happen quick” at the trade deadline. This year, he knows he will not be caught off guard by a deal while at the Sixers’ Los Angeles-area hotel heading into Thursday.
Yet even after last year’s chaotic move, Grimes is content that he wound up with the Sixers.
“I didn’t know if it worked out at the time,” he said, “but it kind of worked out in the end.”
It was a huge game against a team above them in the standings, but also on the outside of the Stanley Cup Playoff picture. The win moved the Flyers within seven points of the Metropolitan Division’s third spot, currently held by the New York Islanders, and the Boston Bruins, who are sitting in eighth in the Eastern Conference.
The Orange and Black had more energy, held off a surge by the Capitals in the third, and were able to snag the all-important two points.
Here are three things to know from the win that saw the Flyers score four goals for just the second time since beating the Anaheim Ducks on Jan. 6.
Matvei Michkov played almost 16 minutes
Hitting the ice just minutes after general manager Danny Brière spoke about the latest Michkov-Rick Tocchet discourse, the Russian winger played 15 minutes, 54 seconds across 21 shifts. It was the highest total since he played a little over 16 minutes against the New York Islanders on Jan. 26 and his 12th-most minutes this season.
Michkov averaged 45-second shifts after he averaged 34 on Saturday against the Los Angeles Kings, when he played a controversial 10:21. Was it a point of focus to have him take longer shifts?
“Yeah, a little bit,” coach Rick Tocchet said. “We talked yesterday, too, a little bit about if you feel like staying, get out there. Obviously, if you’re winded, get off. But, I thought he was moving.”
Michkov played well at times. He set up Bobby Brink for a chance late in the third and was a key contributor to Owen Tippett’s goal that opened the scoring just under six minutes into the game, marking the 19th time in 55 games that the Flyers scored first — and their 11th win.
On the goal, Trevor Zegras gained the zone and dished to Michkov, who carried the puck around the net. He took it around and up the right boards before threading the needle through two Capitals to Travis Sanheim at the left point. The defenseman then threaded the needle himself to Tippett in the right circle before the forward went across the crease and scored on the backhand.
“We knew we would have a little bit of room coming out of the corners there,” Tippett said. “I think that was a great pass to find Sanny, and Sanny made a great play to kind of calm it down and pass it right back to me.”
In hindsight — and after taking a deep breath from a busy night — Dan Vladař should have gotten one of the three stars of the game from this reporter.
The Czech goalie stopped 26 of 28 shots to win his 17th game of the season. He raised his save percentage to .904 and dropped his goal-against average to the 10th-best in the NHL (2.49) among goalies who have played at least 20 games.
Flyers goalie Dan Vladar (left) helped lift Owen Tippett and the Flyers to a much-needed win.
He allowed two goals — one a short-handed goal by Aliaksei Protas and the other a rebound goal by Anthony Beauvillier, who was left all alone in front. But while the team was facing some adversity, Vladař was pumping them up, too.
“He’s a leader,” said Tocchet, adding that while Vladař doesn’t wear a letter — goalies aren’t allowed — for him, he has one.
“I forget when he came by our bench [but] he said, ‘Guys, why are you guys holding your head down? Let’s go here.’ And I love that. It’s good to hear that. He’s our goalie, and [has] a lot of character. He’s been like that all year.”
Vladař was solid in net. In the first period, he made a save with 15:53 left, sliding across to rob Dylan Strome on a power play. Later in the frame, while shorthanded, he stopped Strome again as the puck popped up and he swiped it away with some help from his defenseman, Travis Sanheim, who swiped it further away — but he won’t be doing that in a few days.
“We play him in Game 1, too. I won’t be helping him out like I did,” he joked, noting that Sanheim’s Canada squad will be taking on Vladař and the Czechs on Feb. 12 (10:40 a.m.)
In the third period, he stopped Brandon Duhaime’s shot after Rasmus Ristolainen couldn’t get the puck out, and with six attackers on for the Capitals, off a faceoff deep in the Flyers’ end, Vladař stopped an Alex Ovechkin slapshot. It was one of nine low-danger shots he faced; however, according to Natural Stat Trick, he did see seven high-danger shots.
“That’s one thing that you cannot really control as a goalie,” he said about facing high-danger shots. “You’re there to stop the puck, no matter where the shots are coming from. Mentality is still the same for me, trying to keep as many as I can out of the net. And then having the confidence in the group that I think that we can be scoring two or three every single night.”
Jamie Drysdale (9) has helped power-play goals become a recent and much sought-after habit for the Flyers.
A power-play goal!
Jamie Drysdale has been on and off the power play all season, but lately he’s been getting power-play time. On Tuesday, he finally got on the board.
Zegras got the puck in the corner and threw a reverse hit into Martin Fehérváry to create time and space for himself. He skated up, utilized that time and space to find Drysdale as he slid into the spot atop the circles and fired off the one-timer that popped off the top of the pad of goalie Clay Stevenson and in.
The goal is Drysdale’s fourth of the season and first on the man advantage, giving him five power-play points.
“I think I had my chances, to be honest with you, I just couldn’t put the puck in the net,” Drysdale said. “Guys did a great job of finding me and finding holes, and it was nice to see one go in.”
Philly went 1-for-3 and has now scored on the man advantage for three straight games (3-for-8).
“Well, I like the shot by Jamie. That’s what we need is that … three feet [off the ground shot],” Tocchet said, using his hands to show the amount. “It’s that hard [shot] so we can get a tip on it. I think sometimes our shots are a little high, blocker side, and we talked about, before the power play, what we wanted, and we executed.
“I thought Trevor did a really nice job, like he was excellent. He went low. He body positioned the guy, the guy goes down, he doesn’t do that, maybe they get the puck out. So Trevor did a nice job to set that play up, and then obviously, Jamie, that’s the shots we need.”
To judge the move in more definitive terms would be irresponsible given the amount of time that still remains between now and Thursday’s NBA trade deadline. The final verdict depends on what happens next. If nothing happens next, then, yeah, the Sixers’ decision to jettison their promising 2024 first-round pick will rank somewhere on a spectrum between “underwhelming” and “foolish.” If their primary motivation was to duck below the luxury tax yet again, it will be a level beyond foolish. It will be criminal.
That being said, there are a lot of other ifs in play, many of them more plausible than Daryl Morey viewing a legitimate asset as a cost-savings vehicle. The NBA’s in-season hot stove is sizzling right now. The Mavericks traded All-Star center Anthony Davis to the Wizards, thereby finalizing their aggregate return for Luka Doncic at a grand total of three first-round picks, each of which is more likely to be closer to No. 30 than to No. 1. Trade rumors continue to circulate around Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, with suitors like the Timberwolves and Heat jockeying to present Milwaukee with an offer that will convince it to strike a deal now rather than wait for the offseason. There are a lot of dominoes left to fall, and the Sixers could easily end up toppling one — or being one.
As of Wednesday night, there were no indications that the Sixers were gearing up to make a legitimate run at acquiring Giannis, who was previously reported to be intrigued by the possibility of teaming up with Tyrese Maxey and the Sixers. Such a move would almost certainly require the Sixers to part with rookie star V.J. Edgecombe. That’s a move they almost certainly will not do.
But the Sixers could easily end up involved on the periphery of the Giannis talks. If Minnesota is determined/desperate to add Giannis, then it would presumably need to be desperate/determined to acquire the first-round picks that the Bucks would require (the Timberwolves don’t have much in the way of draft capital to trade). Minnesota’s determination/desperation creates some intriguing possibilities for a third team that does have first-round picks it can trade. The dream scenario would be someone like young sweet-shooting big man Naz Reid becoming available. A more realistic opportunity could come in the form of former Villanova-turned-Knicks-turned-Timberwolves grinder Donte DiVincenzo.
I’m throwing those names out there mostly as for-instances. The world remains Morey’s oyster until the clock strikes 3 p.m. EST on Thursday.
After less than two seasons with the Sixers, Jared McCain is saying goodbye to the City of Brotherly Love — and fans are saying goodbye to McCain, who was a favorite for rookie of the year last season before suffering a knee injury.
“Mom how good was Jared McCain during his rookie year before getting injured” pic.twitter.com/wYt7f4BsZR
But it wasn’t just his presence on the court that Sixers fans were falling in love with. McCain also made a name for himself on social media, boasting 4.9 million followers on TikTok and 1.9 million followers on Instagram.
So it’s no surprise that Philly fans took to social media to express their condolences about the trade. That’s right, condolences. Sixers fans are mourning the trade and reluctantly saying farewell to McCain in the process.
The fact that Sam Presti wants Jared McCain is a reason not to trade Jared McCain https://t.co/A8EAX9YyTL
I would guess that this is setting up another move, though. If part of the calculus here was ducking the tax, that’s outrageous https://t.co/ta3KRTdUZn
Bulls trading Coby White, Mike Conley Jr. to the Hornets: ESPN
Just in: The Chicago Bulls are trading Coby White and Mike Conley Jr. to the Charlotte Hornets for Collin Sexton, Ousmane Dieng and three second-round picks, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/NnHXT5b8lR
Sixers trading Jared McCain to the Thunder for draft picks
The Sixers are trading Jared McCain to the Thunder.
Jared McCain’s tenure with the 76ers is over.
A source confirmed the team is trading the second-year guard to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for the Houston Rockets’ 2026 first-round pick and three second-round selections. One of the second-rounders is the 2027 most favorable pick from the Oklahoma City, Houston, Indiana Pacers, and the Miami Heat. The other second-rounders are the 2028 Milwaukee Bucks and 2028 Thunder picks.
McCain averaged 6.6 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 1.7 assists while shooting 37.8% on three-pointers in 37 games this season. Moving the 21-year-old also enabled the Sixers to free up an additional roster spot and get below the luxury tax threshold.
The Sixers are just $1.2 million above the tax threshold after receiving $5.8 million in tax-variance credit due to Paul George’s 25-game unpaid suspension for violating the NBA’s Anti-Drug Program. Now, they’re $3 million below after getting rid of McCain’s $4.2 million salary.
McCain had his rookie season cut short because of a torn meniscus in his left knee. And on top of that December 2024 injury, he had the start of this season delayed after suffering a torn ligament in his right thumb in September.
The 16th pick of the 2024 draft averaged 10.0 points while making 38.1% on his three-pointers in 60 career games with the Sixers.
BREAKING: The Dallas Mavericks are trading 10-time NBA All-Star Anthony Davis, Jaden Hardy, D'Angelo Russell and Dante Exum to the Washington Wizards for Khris Middleton, AJ Johnson, Malaki Branham, Marvin Bagley III, 2 first-round picks and 3 second-rounders, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/sfrQQubI5i
An NBA trade deadline week stunner. Clearly, the Wizards have completed their deconstruction phase and are now moving toward Young and Davis leading a rising young core. Washington has turned its previous Bradley Beal and Kyle Kuzma trades into Young, Davis and five pick swaps.
Can Sixers counter moves by other Eastern Conference teams?
The Sixers could use immediate help due to Paul George’s suspension.
The Eastern Conference remains tightly packed, with three games separating the second-place New York Knicks and sixth-place 76ers entering Wednesday.
Eastern Conference standings
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And some of the teams above the Sixers have already begun bolstering their roster, with more than 24 hours remaining before Thursday’s deadline.
The Cleveland Cavaliers traded for former Sixer James Harden, sending All-Star Darius Garland to the Los Angeles Clippers. The Boston Celtics shored up their center spot by acquiring Nikola Vucevic from the Chicago Bulls in exchange for Anfernee Simons. And the Detroit Pistons, who remain comfortably at the top of the conference, added sharpshooter Kevin Huerter in exchange for Jaden Ivey.
How could the Sixers counter? Their roster is tricky with three players on max contracts, including the suspended Paul George. His absence means the Sixers could use immediate help at the wing or in the frontcourt.
The Bucks are currently in 12th place in the Eastern Conference, 10 games below .500 and completely out of the playoff picture. Hopes for a second-half turnaround seem fleeting under Doc Rivers, who’s barely been a .500 coach (84-82) in his two-and-a-half seasons with the Bucks.
“I want to be here, but I want to be here to win, not fighting for my life to make the playoffs,” Antetokounmpo said.
James Harden and Tyrese Maxey, when they were Sixers teammates in 2023.
SAN FRANCISCO – Tyrese Maxey did not need to join the speculation about James Harden being traded from the Los Angeles Clippers to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Maxey could just call his former teammate.
“I talked to him [Monday] a bit about it,” Maxey said following the 76ers’ win at the Golden State Warriors Tuesday night. “Hey, look, if he’s happy, I’m happy. That’s all that matters.”
When Harden missed his second consecutive game for personal reasons on Monday against the Sixers, reports of a deal percolating between the Clippers and Cavaliers surfaced during the matchup. The trade, which also sends Darius Garland to Los Angeles, became official Tuesday as part of a flurry of moves about 48 hours before the deadline. It was a stunning turn of events, given the Clippers are in the midst of a massive turnaround and Harden was playing at a borderline All-Star level, averaging 25.4 points, 8.1 assists, and 4.8 rebounds in 44 games.
But the Sixers and Maxey are plenty familiar with Harden forcing his way off a team. It is how he wound up leaving Philly for the Clippers as part of a blockbuster trade early in the 2023-24 season, after the Sixers would not offer him a long-term extension in the summer of 2023. The Sixers acquired Harden at the 2022 trade deadline in a massive deal that sent Ben Simmons to the Brooklyn Nets.
Still, Maxey and Harden remain close. On the court, Maxey called Harden “somebody who elevates the people that he played with,” and expects him to provide the same to a Cavaliers team that entered Wednesday a half-game up on the Sixers for fifth place in a crowded middle of the Eastern Conference standings.
“He does James Harden stuff,” Maxey said. “He’s a dynamic player with playoff experience. Knows how to play the game. Knows how to get guys involved. Take some pressure off of D. Mitch [Donovan Mitchell], for sure, and get those other guys – [Evan] Mobley, [Jarrett] Allen, [Jaylon] Tyson – easy shots.”
Sixers light on trade assets beyond Maxey and Edgecombe
Tyrese Maxey with teammate VJ Edgecombe.
Aside from Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe, the Sixers don’t have the assets needed to acquire the type of player who could drastically improve the team via a trade. And the Sixers aren’t going to trade either player.
Joel Embiid is once again playing at an elite level, averaging 29.3 points over the last 15 games. However, he has an extensive injury history and a three-year, $193 million contract extension that kicks in next season. While he looks great at the moment, there is a lot of uncertainty concerning how he’ll hold up in the future.
Meanwhile, Paul George has a tough contract to move after signing a four-year, $211.5 million deal in July 2024. At this stage of his career, he’s recognized as a fourth option on a championship team. Yet George is being paid as a top-two player. As a result, it’s hard to justify taking on his salary at this time.
And since the Sixers aren’t going to trade Maxey or Edgecombe, they shouldn’t forfeit their future by surrendering draft picks to facilitate a trade. They’ll need those picks to acquire young talent and continue building around Maxey and Edgecombe after Embiid and George leave Philly.
What’s the Sixers top priority: upgrading the roster or saving money?
Daryl Morey, the Sixers President of basketball operations, with head coach Nick Nurse in 2024.
Last Week, Joel Embiid expressed his desire to avoid the Sixers’ annual salary dump at the trade deadline to avoid paying the luxury tax.
“So hopefully we keep the same team,” Embiid said on Thursday. “I love all of the guys that are here. I think we’ve got a shot.
“I don’t know what [the front office is] going to do. But I hope that we get a chance to go out there and compete because we’ve got a good group of guys in this locker room, and the vibes are great.”
The team is just $1.2 million over the luxury tax threshold, thanks to a $5.8 million tax variance credit because of George’s unpaid suspension, during which he will lose $11.7 million.
Before George’s suspension, the Sixers were $7 million over the tax threshold and were expected to trade away at least one expiring contract. While the Sixers are still expected to make some type of move, they can keep all three of the players — Quentin Grimes ($8.7 million salary), Kelly Oubre Jr. ($8.3 million), and Andre Drummond ($5 million) — who had expiring contracts that could have helped them duck the tax.
Will Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo end up on another team by the trade deadline?
It’s unclear if the Milwaukee Bucks will trade away Giannis Antetokounmpo, but there are at least four teams seriously interested in landing the two-time MVP, according to multiple reports – Golden State Warriors, Minnesota Timberwolves, Miami Heat and New York Knicks
The question is whether those offers are large enough for a team to land the “Greek Freak.” According to The Athletic’s Sam Amick, they’re not, meaning “this saga looked likely to extend into the summertime.”
In one proposed trade by ESPN’s NBA insiders, the Bucks would send Antetokounmpo to Philadelphia for Paul George, VJ Edgecombe, and two unprotected first-round picks. Fun, but it appears unlikely the Sixers are willing to part with their rookie phenom.
Three former Sixers players part of deals ahead of NBA trade deadline
James Harden is heading to Cleveland in a swap for point guard Darius Garland.
James Harden to the Cavaliers (per ESPN): The one-time Sixers star/disappointment is on the move again, this time heading to Cleveland in a swap for two-time All-Star Darius Garland. Cleveland is also reportedly sending a second-round pick to the Clippers for Harden, who will join Donovan Mitchell on the court with the goal of advancing past the second round of the playoffs.
Nikola Vucevic to the Celtics (per AP): Boston gets frontcourt depth in exchange for guard Anfernee Simons. The two teams are also reportedly swapping second-round picks. Vucevic, whom the Sixers took in the first round of the 2011 NBA draft, spent the past five and a half seasons with the Bulls.
Kevin Huerter headed to Detroit (per ESPN): The Pistons added some depth in a four-player, three-team deal that will also send former Sixers fan favorite Dario Saric (“The Homie”) to Detroit. The Pistons will also reportedly get a 2026 first-round protected draft pick swap from the Minnesota Timberwolves, whose main motivation is to create salary space. The third team in the deal, the Chicago Bulls, get Mike Conley Jr. and Jaden Ivey.
Boston Celtics post player Chris Boucher is a player the Sixers are reported to have some “exploratory” interest in, according to a HoopsHype report.
A source downplayed the interest in the reserve power forward/center, who has appeared in only nine games this season with the Boston Celtics, averaging just 2.3 points and 2.0 rebounds in 10.4 minutes.
However, he flourished in the last seven seasons as a reserve glue guy for the Toronto Raptors. Sixers coach Nick Nurse was Raptors coach during Boucher’s first five seasons in Toronto. Nurse was able to get the best out of the undersized post player, who averaged 8.9 points and 5.1 rebounds in 406 games as a Raptor.
Boucher signed a one-year, veteran minimum contract with Boston for $3.2 million, with a cap hit of $2.2 million.
Sixers guard VJ Edgecombe is averaging 15.1 points and 4.2 assists in his rookie season.
This shouldn’t need to be said, but the Sixers aren’t going to trade VJ Edgecombe for Giannis Antetokounmpo. Nor should they. Which also shouldn’t need to be said.
Just in case, let’s say it again.
No Edgecombe for Giannis. No Edgecombe for anyone. No Edgecombe at the trade deadline. No Edgecombe in the offseason.
No Edgecombe, know peace.
To be clear, this isn’t about Giannis, who’s in the midst of the most efficient season of his career, by virtually every measure.
This is purely about Edgecombe. To understand his immense present and future value, you have to watch him on the court. It’s incredibly rare for a 20-year-old rookie to average 35.6 minutes per night for a team that is six games over .500 and has a legitimate chance to make a playoff run. It’s even rarer for said rookie to do it with the maturity and grace that Edgecombe exhibits at both ends of the court. And it’s rarer still for a rookie to possess that veteran-level basketball IQ while also possessing such an electric athletic upside.
Sources have said the Sixers are open to trading veteran center Andre Drummond.
Kelly Oubre Jr. ($8.4 million salary): Before Paul George’s 25 game suspension, Oubre’s was viewed as the Sixers’ most tradable contract — especially if the front office was instructed to get under the luxury tax. Now he is vital to the current roster as a tenacious wing defender and offensive player who can slash to the basket — and he has upped his three-point percentage.
Quentin Grimes ($8.7 million): This comes with a massive asterisk because Grimes has the power to veto any trade after signing a one-year qualifying offer in October. Additionally, any trade approved by Grimes would relinquish his’ “Bird” rights, which allow teams to offer their own players a higher salary in free agency. So unless the new destination appears to be an ideal long-term fit, it is unlikely Grimes would sign off on any trade-deadline move and instead enter unrestricted free agency this summer.
Andre Drummond ($5 million): What once looked like a resurgent Drummond season has turned into an odd role for the 14-year veteran. He starts whenever Joel Embiid sits out for injury or load-management reasons, and does not play at all when Embiid is in the lineup. That theoretically makes Drummond expendable — and perhaps the most likely (fringe) rotation player to depart at the deadline.
Eric Gordon ($3.6 million): Gordon, on the tail end of a successful career, has played in only six games in his second season as a Sixer. Trading the 37-year-old in a salary-dump move would open up an additional roster spot that could be used to sign Dominick Barlow or Jabari Walker to a standard NBA contract. One wrinkle: Gordon is close with rookie standout VJ Edgecombe, who played with Gordon on the Bahamian national team.
Kyle Lowry ($3.6 million): Lowry is in his 20th NBA season. Like Gordon, he is on a veteran minimum contract. It feels less likely that the Sixers would let go of the Philly native and former Villanova star, given his primarily off-the-court role as a respected leader in the locker room and on the bench.
Sixth and Bainbridge’s French scene is coming back with the new Side Eye, an all-day bar opening Saturday in the mid-19th-century building that housed the late, great Bistrot La Minette.
Owner Hank Allingham has shifted away from La Minette’s tightly focused French bistro style in favor of what he calls “French-ish” food alongside beer, $13 cocktails, and European wines.
Side Eye owner Hank Allingham (left) with lead bartender Ryan Foster inside the bistro.
Side Eye is meant to be flexible — “the kind of neighborhood spot you can use for most situations,” Allingham said. “You can come for a date-night dinner, eat alone at the bar, or watch a game.”
This is the ownership debut of Allingham, who grew up locally and spent his previous career working in restaurant finance and operations for companies such as Sally’s Apizza in New Haven, Conn., and P.J. Clarke’s in New York and Philadelphia.
The exterior of Side Eye, 623 S. Sixth St.
When it came time to open his own place, he and his wife, Kat, wanted to be in South Philadelphia and searched broadly between South Street and Snyder Avenue.
“I know this isn’t technically ‘South Philly,’ but Queen Village is beautiful and incredibly historic,” he said. “A lot of the facades — including this one — are really special, and from a curb-appeal standpoint, it’s hard to complain.”
A bourbon old fashioned, hot penicillin, and vieux pommier at Side Eye.
The location at 623 S. Sixth St. was, in fact, a dream home for the Allinghams’ restaurant. Shortly after moving back to Philadelphia, the couple dined at Bistrot La Minette before its closing in mid-2024. “We remember saying to each other, ‘If only this space ever became available,’” Allingham said. “Then it did.”
The opening, initially targeted to December, has been a case of hurry up and wait. “The holidays just sort of slowed the world down, frankly. When we got approval on Dec. 17, I was fairly certain we were going to be waiting awhile just because of the timing.”
The Side Eye team (from left): Abbey Smith, front of house manager, Ryan Foster, lead bartender, Finn Connors, chef, and Hank Allingham, owner.
Side Eye is named in memory of the couple’s dog Sheba, who would at first give the side eye to anyone she didn’t know. She died in 2021.
The cozy room includes a 20-seat bar (relocated to the opposite wall), with an additional 12 seats along a rail. There are 40 seats in the dining room, a rear dining room with 16 additional seats, and a seasonal patio.
In the kitchen is executive chef Finn Connors, most recently at Sally in Fitler Square, with earlier experience at Wilder and Osteria. Connors makes nearly everything in house, including breads, pastries, pastas, and desserts.
Tagliolini at Side Eye.
Dishes include tagliolini tossed with café de Paris butter; peppercorn burger finished with jus and Fromager d’Affinois on a seeded bun; French onion soup with 12-month Comté; triple-cooked frites; moules marinières with baguette, crab fat, nori, witbier, and crème fraîche; and stuffed cabbage filled with braised short rib, mushroom duxelles, and tomato Bordelaise. Desserts include a classic crème caramel, served warm and finished with salt.
Menus will shift throughout the day from lunch into dinner. Ninety minutes before closing, the kitchen will pare things back and add a late-night menu with snacks such as a raw bar with oysters on the half shell and shrimp cocktail.
Side Eye owner Hank Allingham prepping tables inside the bistro.
The beverage program, overseen by Messina Social Club alumnus Ryan Foster, includes eight cocktails priced at $13, eight draft beers, and a French-leaning wine list highlighting small producers.
Side Eye eventually will be selling wine to go, with bottles displayed along the outer portions of the back bar, in a retail-style presentation similar to the one at South Philadelphia favorite Fountain Porter. The to-go selection, largely separate from the by-the-glass list, will rotate regularly, beginning with six reds, six whites, a few sparklings, skin-contact wines, and a rosé.
Among the beers will be Budweiser served in frozen mugs.
Budweiser?
“Because we like it,” Allingham said.
Side Eye, 623 S. Sixth St. Hours on opening weekend: 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. Saturday and 5 to 11 p.m. Sunday. Hours starting Feb. 9: noon to midnight Monday through Thursday, noon to 1 a.m. Friday, 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday. Fifty percent of Feb. 7’s proceeds will be donated to People’s Kitchen.
I doubt Black History Month will be paid any attention this year by a president who no longer feels the need to be so hypocritical that he would stand among Christians with a smile on his face and a Bible in his hand, only to later confess his ever passing through the pearly gates of heaven is highly unlikely.
Donald Trump no longer feels compelled to go through the motions of pretending to be something he never was. With age 80 rapidly approaching, he knows he’s never going to run for another political office. So why should he put on another performance to cull votes from demographic groups he never really cared about anyway?
Trump fell only 3% short of winning the Hispanic vote in the 2024 presidential race, a 21% improvement from the 2020 election. I wonder how many of Trump’s Hispanic supporters regret voting for him after having family members or friends detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement police and possibly deported?
President’s disdain
More Black folks were enticed by Trump’s blarney, too. He nearly doubled his Black support from 8% in 2020 to 15% in 2024. Trump repaid Black voters by signing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that he pushed through a Republican Congress, which cut taxes for higher-income households by slashing funding for food and medical assistance programs sorely needed by disproportionately poor Black families.
Trump signaled with his recent criticism of the 1964 Civil Rights Act that he wouldn’t be adding his voice to a chorus of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” during Black History Month. He said the law unfairly discriminated against white people.
“White people were very badly treated,” he said. “People that deserve to go to a college or deserve to get a job were unable to get a job. So it was, it was a reverse discrimination.”
Such an uninformed statement being made by a president of the United States is exactly why this country still needs Black History Month. Trump’s comment, however, also underscores the need to change how that 100-year-old celebration has been observed.
Trump isn’t wrong to call the Civil Rights Act a reversal, but he failed to put that assessment in context. He may drive nothing more powerful than a golf cart these days, but nonetheless, he should know that sometimes you have to put a vehicle in reverse to stop it from going in the wrong direction.
The National Museum of African American History and Culture on the National Mall in Washington is a repository of Black history.
The Civil Rights Act was needed to reverse the course of both the legal and traditional segregation that persisted in America decades after the Civil War ended slavery. It was hoped that affirmative action laws would, in time, become unnecessary and could end when all Americans were assured of equal treatment regardless of their race.
In fact, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor opined in a 2003 college admissions case before the U.S. Supreme Court “that 25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary.” But in too many respects, the need for policies designed to reverse the significantly diminished but nevertheless enduring racism in this country has not gone away.
More people might accept that reality if they had a better understanding of American history and realized that laws such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were passed by Congress on a bipartisan basis and upheld again and again by a nonpartisan Supreme Court because it was the right thing to do. Context is important, which brings us back to Black History Month.
Honoring people and ideas
What began as Negro History Week in 1926 was created by Howard University professor Carter G. Woodson to instill a greater sense of pride among African American students who mostly attended all-Black schools.
Focusing on these and other historically significant African Americans, including Sojourner Truth, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois, Malcolm X, and Mary McLeod Bethune, may have been fine when I attended segregated public schools in Alabama in the 1960s and ‘70s. But now, with white students attending integrated schools also observing Black History Month, it’s time to move beyond Woodson’s effort to instill pride among African American students.
Instead of celebrating individuals, Black History Month should focus more on the events and ideas that continue to impact how Black and white people coexist in an America that continues to struggle with both covert and subtle racism. Projects and book reports should explore the arguments made when the Civil War began, consider why Reconstruction failed to place African Americans on even footing with whites, and note the similarity of racist rhetoric 60 years ago and now.
A body is removed from the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., Sept. 15, 1963, after a bomb set by the Ku Klux Klan detonated during services, killing four girls. The author, Harold Jackson, was a child in the city at the time.
Sixty years ago, I was a 12-year-old attending an all-Black school in Birmingham, Ala. Two years earlier, 16th Street Baptist Church was bombed by Ku Klux Klansmen, and a child who attended my elementary school was one of the four little girls killed. Four years prior to that, I remember my mother walking me to an alley to relieve myself because no white store downtown would let a Black person use its bathrooms.
Birmingham is so much better than that now. America is better, too. But some days it seems to have prematurely shifted to reverse. Remedies to discrimination are being prematurely discarded even as racist rhetoric rises to levels that are uncomfortable reminders of what America was, and not what we want it to be. Black History Month is a good time to reflect on that reality and take steps to avoid slipping into a past we need to remember but not repeat.
Harold Jackson, who served as editorial page editor for The Inquirer from 2007 to 2017, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing in 1991 and retired from the Houston Chronicle in 2020. His memoir, “Under the Sun: A Black Journalist’s Journey,” was published in April by the University of Alabama Press.
Shockingly, Delaware County has only one strip club, Lou Turk’s in Tinicum Township. Not shockingly, it bills itself as “historic” and a “Delco icon.”
Over on Yelp, reviewers call it a “hallowed hall,” “better than expected,” and “the Cheers of the female entertainment industry in the Philly area.”
Now, folks can call Lou Turk’s something else: the Carousel Delco, though the odds that they will actually call it that are exactly zero. It’s as likely as Philadelphians calling the Gallery the Fashion District or anyone saying Columbus Boulevard instead of Delaware Avenue.
A Delco institution for more than 50 years, Lou Turk’s announced it was rebranding via a statement on its social media pages last weekend, prompting comments like “April fools?” “Fake news?” and “This may go down as the biggest travesty to ever occur in Delco … and my god that’s saying something.”
Along with the new name, the club released what appears to be new signage, with the word “CAROUSEL” spelled out using silhouettes of nude women. The establishment also announced recent renovations, new amenities, menu enhancements, and new management. Yeah, new management that did not return my requests for an interview about why this was done.
I have no idea what would inspire someone to name a strip club “The Carousel Delco,” aside from the fact that both have poles. The club’s statement seems to explain why the new name was chosen, but it actually doesn’t. Classic Delco.
“We are still a Delco bar — always have been, always will be,” it reads. “That legacy is exactly why this name was chosen.”
Wait, did Delco bars all used to have carousels inside? If so, I definitely missed this county’s Belle Époque.
When I saw the news, my biggest fear was that one of Delco’s most storied traditions could be in jeopardy — the annual Mother’s Day and Easter flower sales outside of the strip club. It’s been the subject of countless memes and something I’ve used in stories as shorthand to explain Delco culture.
Luckily, whoever wrote the club’s statement anticipated that concern and immediately assuaged all fears:
“We look forward to many more awesome memes along the way … and we will still be selling flowers this Mother’s Day holiday.”
Whew! I mean you wouldn’t want to tell your mom you bought her flowers at the Acme, would you?
Trials and tribulations
The establishment was purchased in the mid-1960s by the late Louis Saddic, who was better known as Lou Turk, a name he picked up as a kid in South Philly, according to a 1983 Inquirer article.
Located in the Essington section of Tinicum, just off of Route 291, the club is situated in between an Irish pub and a Wawa, because of course it is. It’s so close to the Philadelphia International Airport you can see the underbellies of planes flying low overhead, which historically made Lou Turk’s a popular layover spot for travelers. Being near the shipyard didn’t hurt either.
The building itself is a windowless parallelogram painted in a muddy brown, with LOU TURKS plastered in large white letters on a gray patch on the side and “LT’s Cabaret” written on the awning.
Lou Turk’s is at the intersection of Powahatan and Jansen Avenues in the Essington section of Tinicum Township.
It’s unclear if the business was always a strip club, but it definitely was by 1973, when it started to receive citations by the PLCB for “lewd, immoral or improper entertainment,” according to our archives.
In 1983, the club was raided twice, the second time by 55 police officers who confiscated a whopping total of $19 from dancers they claimed had sexual contact with patrons. Turk, who was subsequently hit with prostitution and racketeering charges, vehemently denied the claims, as did five dancers and five other employees arrested in the raid.
William J. Davies, then-deputy district attorney for Delaware County, said at the time of Lou Turk’s: “It won’t reopen” and “We are not going to tolerate this sort of thing out in Delaware County.” Boy, was he off base.
The following year at trial one dancer testified she would “haul off and slug” any patron who tried to get handsy, which tracks for Delco. Investigators who testified used marshmallows and hand puppets to describe what they allegedly witnessed in the club, a Daily News report said.
Turk was represented at trial by the late high-profile attorney A. Charles Peruto Sr., who at one point, while questioning a PLCB agent’s testimony about interactions between a dancer and a patron, “assumed the dancer’s squatting position in front of the jury box and questioned the agent about the physical possibility of the act he had described,” according to an Inquirer article.
It’s unclear if the jurors threw Peruto tips, but what is becoming clear is how the club got its storied reputation in the annals of Delco history.
Turk’s case ended in a mistrial because prosecutors didn’t supply his attorney with the necessary discovery material before the case went to court. You can’t hide anything when prosecuting a strip club.
In 1990, a judge ordered the club to close for a year, after it had racked up a dozen citations between 1975 and 1990, “the longest history of state liquor code violations in the Philadelphia area for lewd entertainment,” The Inquirer wrote at the time.
During the shutdown, the bar operated a sandwich shop with a walk-up window for a few months, but it didn’t cut the mustard.
Lou Turk’s reopened on July 1, 1991, and The Inquirer was surprisingly there on opening day to see a dancer named Gail with palm tree pasties perform to the dulcet tones of ’80s glam metal band Ratt.
The establishment hasn’t made headlines since, according to our archives, aside from a report by unnamed sources that Ryan Howard visited the club in 2008, and several passing references to it in stories about Delco culture by yours truly.
‘Holy mackerel!’
I’m not sure when I first became aware of Lou Turk’s. As a nearly two-decade transplant, it’s the stuff of legends that’s always been here and I’ve always heard talked about, like Wawa or the Lower Swedish Cabin.
Whenever someone asks for a suggestion for the best place to eat or visit on the Delco subreddit or on a local Facebook page, someone inevitably suggests Lou Turk’s, tongue-in-cheek, like they do Woody’s in Philly.
“I think I even got a Lou Turks answer to me asking about vets in the area for my cat lol I died,” one Redditor posted.
“Did the cat survive?” another asked.
“Yeah he got a lap dance and started feeling better.”
Several reviewers on Yelp attest that the club’s food is pretty good. Even Jim Pappas, who’s gained local notoriety for trying and cataloging more than 1,100 cheesesteaks in the tristate area on his Philadelphia Cheesesteak Adventure website and YouTube channel, gave the food a thumbs-up.
“Holy mackerel! Who knew Lou Turk’s would have great food?” he says in his review.
One Yelp reviewer in 2011 even used a cheesesteak analogy to describe the place.
“As far as quality of performers go, think of this place as a cheesesteak shop in comparison to LeBec Fin; you can get a very satisfying quality meal, but it’s not exactly something you’d be bragging about to everyone you meet,” they wrote.
Uncle Lou’s
Changing the name of anything is hard, especially around here, where change is as welcome as the Dallas Cowboys.
But it may be particularly difficult for Lou Turk’s, which is so ingrained in local culture some folks call it Uncle Lou’s.
That’s the great thing about Delco. It doesn’t have famous tourist sites like Longwood Gardens or King of Prussia Mall, but what it has it owns to the bone, including its lone strip club.
Michael Bertrando’s first brush with Kennett Square’s council three years ago was to discuss a parking issue at his family’s legacy sandwich spot, Sam’s Sub Shop. He saw his neighbors, listened to them, and started to see how the council worked. Eventually, he became something of a regular.
When the issue of short-term rentals came up last month, Bertrando had a lot of perspective: As an actor — you might haveseen him on HBO’s Task — he has traveled extensively. He has seen the negative effects short-term rentals can have had on communities from New York to Argentina to Brazil. He spoke up.
And then people started to drop by the sandwich shop, which he runs alongside his parents, suggesting that he put his name in for a vacant seat on the council.
The council voted last month to appoint Bertrando, 52, from a crowded field of applicants to fill former council member Julie Hamilton’s seat through December 2027. He was sworn in Monday.
The seat will be on the ballot for a four-year term in the 2027 general election. Hamilton resigned for a job in Texas, the Daily Local reported.
Long ties to Kennett Square
Council member is another job title the local businessman and Task stuntman can add to his resumé.
“I’m volunteering to help the residents of my community; that’s my primary goal,” he said in an interview Tuesday.
Bertrando — an actor, director, and producer — has worked at his family’s 80-year-old sub shop for decades. It drew him back home a few years ago, so he could help his aging parents run the shop.
But in the years between, Bertrando left Kennett Square to pursue acting, appearing in commercials for brands like Mercedes, McDonald’s, Nintendo, and Oscar Mayer; traveling the world as a professional clown; and working the improv comedy circuit in New York and Chicago.
His film career has continued back in Pennsylvania; Bertrando served as Mark Ruffalo’s stand-in and stunt double in Task, the HBO crime drama set in Delco. In his own productions, his hometown has seeped into his work. A short film, Italian Special, is set within Sam’s Sub Shop and Kennett Square.
Since returning to the borough, Bertrando has been a frequent visitor to council meetings, and advised the borough alongside other business leaders on what was going well, and what wasn’t, in Kennett Square.
Priorities on council
His professional career and his family’s long lineage in Kennett Square have shaped his perspectives on the borough, and what he thinks he can add as a council member.
He is motivated by the possible development of a new theater. Infusing more arts into the community would be beneficial, he said.
Having worked on Task, he saw how other municipalities the show filmed in benefited from an influx of revenue: from parking to hiring police for traffic control, to renting out locations in town, to ordering food for lunches and snacks, to coffee runs, to overnight stays in hotels.
“We have all the infrastructure needed for that to happen here in Kennett,” he said.
Both Task and fellow Pennsylvania-based crime drama Mare of Easttown mention Kennett Square, but neither used the borough for filming.
“When you have a theater or something arts-driven in the town, I think that’s a signal,” he said. “I think a theater can work as a beacon for revenue from other sources, like film production.”
Beyond the intersection of his passion for film and the borough, he said the development of the former National Vulcanized Fiber land, a large undeveloped parcel that is being remediated for contamination in soil from the industrial site, has been of concern for residents.
While the project would be years out even if ultimately approved, Bertrando said he would advocate for environmental transparency and affordable development that respects the existing neighborhoods.
He would also like to improve communication between the municipality and its residents — the longtime community members, like Bertrando’s family, and those who are choosing to relocate.
As he began his term on the other side of public comment, he said, he focused in, listening closely to what his neighbors were saying. He feels the burden to pay close attention, since he was appointed to the role, rather than elected.
“I really have to make the effort to listen to their concerns and really try the best ways to help in their concerns,” he said. “Sitting on the other side was exciting. It was important. It’s serious. It’s my town. I really care about it.”
The property listing in Beaver, Pa., extolled the countless charms of the Colonial Revival. There was the “grand foyer with a handmade railing,” the built-in cabinets and “beautiful” hardwood floors, and the covered porch offering “stunning” views of the nearby Ohio River.
“This home adorns many wonderful features,” the listing read, “and outstanding details throughout.”
One detail, however, was notably absent from the listing: the sizable swastika arranged in permanent tile on the basement floor.
That omission has become the source of an unusual legal battle, a disturbing discovery that has weaved its way through the state court system and raised questions — legal and otherwise — about what represents a “material defect” in a property.
“I certainly have not seen [this] particular fact-pattern come up before,” said Hank Lerner, chief legal officer for the Pennsylvania Association of Realtors. “It’s a pretty specific one.”
When Daniel and Lynn Rae Wentworth closed on the five-bedroom home in 2023, for around $550,000, it was easy to see the draw. Anchored on a spacious lot, just a block from the river, the home was idyllic by just about any measure.
But shortly after moving in, the Wentworths were clearing out the basement when they discovered the grim iconography in tile — a swastika, along with, what appeared to the couple, to be an image of a Nazi eagle. (According to the Wentworths, the tiled images had been covered by rugs during the inspection of the home.)
After Daniel and Lynn Rae Wentworth purchased a home in Beaver, Pa., they discovered in the basement floor what they believed to be a tiled image of a Nazi eagle (pictured above) and a swastika.
“Mortified,” as they would later say, the Wentworths filed a complaint in Beaver County civil court, alleging the previous owner had violated the Pennsylvania Real Estate Seller Disclosure Law, and seeking monetary damages.
The Wentworths argued they would never have bought the home had they known about the tiled floor. Nor, they said, could they be expected to live in the home — or sell it — given its condition. In their complaint, the couple estimated it would cost roughly $30,000 to replace the floor.
“This … is just not something you’d ever expect to have to deal with,” said Daniel Stoner, an attorney for the Wentworths.
“They could have actual economic harm from the potential reputational damage if people thought they put it in themselves or were aware of it.”
The seller — an 85-year-old German immigrant who’d owned the home for nearly a half-century — did not share this view.
In response to the Wentworths’ suit, Albert A. Torrence, an attorney for the seller, argued in a court filing that “purely psychological stigmas do not constitute material defects of property … and a seller has no duty to disclose them.”
What’s more, he argued, the Wentworths had failed to identify any untruthful or inaccurate statements he’d made regarding the property.
In an interview, Torrence denied that the home’s previous owner was a Nazi supporter. Forty years ago, he said, the previous owner had been reading a book about the swastika symbol being co-opted by Germany’s Nazi Party; angry, he decided to include the symbol in a basement renovation project, placed a rug over it not long after, and forgot about it.
“And, of course, it fits into the narrative, ‘A Nazi lived in this house,’” said Torrence. “It’s just not the narrative that people want it to be.”
Regardless, the case raised an interesting question: When it comes to property sales, what, exactly, does rise to the level of a material defect worthy of disclosure?
Pennsylvania law requires sellers to disclose a laundry list of potential problems with a home — termites, structural or heating problems, sewage issues. “[Any] problem with a residential real property or any portion of it that would have a significant adverse impact on the value of the property or that involves an unreasonable risk to people on the property.”
Absent from that list? Hate symbols that had been permanently embedded.
In court filings, the previous owner cited an earlier case that had advanced all the way to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
In 2007, after a California resident purchased a Delaware County home, she learned from a neighbor that the property had been the site of a grisly — and highly publicized — murder-suicide. The new owner, Janet S. Milliken, sued.
In that case, the state’s Supreme Court ruled that the home’s unfortunate history did not represent a material defect, adding that it would be impossible to quantify the psychological impact of various events that might have occurred on a given property.
“Does a bloodless death by poisoning or overdose create a less significant ‘defect’ than a bloody one from a stabbing or shooting?” the court wrote. “How would one treat other violent crimes such as rape, assault, home invasion, or child abuse? What if the killings were elsewhere, but the sadistic serial killer lived there? What if satanic rituals were performed in the house?”
Leaning heavily upon the Supreme Court’s decision in the Milliken case, the Beaver County trial court dismissed the Wentworths’ complaint.
Unsatisfied with the ruling, the Wentworths appealed.
In a decision filed late last year, three Superior Court judges affirmed the initial ruling that the tiled imagery was not required to be disclosed in accordance with the state’s disclosure law.
“A basement that floods, a roof that leaks, beams that were damaged by termites … these are the conditions our legislature requires sellers to disclose if they are known,” the judges wrote in an 18-page ruling filed Nov. 12.
“We are not dismissive of the Wentworths’ outrage, nor their concern that the existence of the images could taint them as Nazi supporters,” the decision went on. “With this lawsuit, however, they have made a public record to counter any supposition in that regard.”
Though the couple could’ve appealed to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Stoner, their attorney, said this week that they had decided against doing so, citing the low likelihood that the case would’ve been heard by the court.
“I’ve only had one case in my entire career that they’ve actually taken up,” Stoner said. “So the chances of them even getting it heard weren’t the greatest.”
As for the home, Lynn Rae Wentworth told the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle recently that she and her husband planned to remove the tiling once they were sure the legal wrangling had concluded.
She said they were also considering approaching local legislators in hopes of changing the law, making hate symbols material defects that necessitated disclosure.
As she told the publication, “I don’t want anyone to have to go through this again.”
U.S. Sen. Cory Booker has raised more than $30 million for his reelection campaign, outdoing the vast majority of candidates running for either chamber ofCongress in 2026.
The New Jersey Democrat has raised the second-largest amount of money for the 2026 elections for U.S. House and Senateas of the end of last year, behind only Sen. Jon Ossoff (D., Ga.),according to Federal Election Commission reports.
Booker is widely considered a potential presidential contender for 2028, after unsuccessfully seeking the office in 2020.
The lawmaker has no serious challengers at this point for his Senate seat, and he could leave this cycle with extra money he could use for a presidential run.
His campaign has nearly $22 million cash on hand and no debt. He has been adding to his coffers since he began his most recent term in 2021.
More than 200,000 people donated to Booker in 2025, and roughly 80% of the donations were $25 or less, according to Booker’s campaign.
“Cory is backed by a grassroots movement that recognizes the importance of strong, principled leadership that stands up in this moment,“ his campaign manager, Adam Silverstein, said in a statement. ”We are grateful for this incredible outpouring of support and will keep building the infrastructure we need to win in 2026 and elect Democrats at every level.”
The New Jersey Democrat saw a fundraising spike when he delivered a record-breaking 25-hour speech on the Senate floor last year. He raised nearly $9.7 million in the second quarter of 2025, the period that included his speech, far more than any other quarter last year.
Booker criticized President Donald Trump on a host of issues in the speech and held up a pocket Constitution. He also acknowledged his own party’s failure to prevent Trump’s return to office.
“I confess that the Democratic Party has made terrible mistakes that gave a lane to this demagogue,” he said in his speech. “I confess we all must look in the mirror and say, ‘We will do better.’”
Laura Matos, a New Jersey Democratic operative, said Booker was already a “known entity,” and his speech came at a time when Democrats across the country were looking for someone to stand up to Trump.
“For 25 hours, his people could constantly churn out, like every hour, ‘He’s still on the Senate floor, show him you support him,’” said Matos, a partner at lobbying and public affairs firm MAD Global Strategy Group. “The way that fundraising works, you can really build upon things like that. He was prolific before that, and then that just kind of skyrocketed it.”
Ossoff, the 2026 federal candidate who reported more than Booker, has raised nearly $64 million and faces a more competitive race in a key swing state.
He began serving as mayor of Newark in 2006 untilhe was elected to the U.S. Senate in a 2013 special election.
Booker is also heading into a national tour to promote Stand, his new book, set to publish next month.
The book combines Booker’s personal reflections with stories of American leaders from President George Washington to Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, and “offers a hopeful and practical path forward,” according to his publisher, Macmillan.
Most of Booker’s money comes from outside New Jersey.
According to FEC data, from January through September 2025, he received the most money from California, followed by New York.
While Booker is raking in money, he’s also spending it. He spent the fourthmost out of all 2026 Senate candidates, reporting $14 million in spending since 2021.
One of his biggest expenses was in April, when his campaign spent $1.2 million on an email list acquisition.
The only other candidate who has reporting fundraising for the New Jersey Senate race so far is Justin Murphy, a Republican from the Pinelands, who reported a little over $3,500.
Several other Republicans have expressed interest in running in the primary, and county parties will hold conventions in the coming weeks to endorse candidates.
Luke Ferrante, the executive director of New Jersey GOP, said the party is planning “a robust effort statewide” to unseat Booker.
“New Jerseyans across the state are eager to elect a statewide representative that is focused on delivering for its residents, not their greater Washington ambitions,” Ferrante said.
Punxsutawney Phil may have seen his shadow on Monday, but spring training waits for no groundhog.
The Phillies’ trucks have been loaded with gear, including thousands of baseballs and one hot dog launcher, and have begun their journey toward Clearwater, Fla. Camp is set to open on Feb. 11, officially starting the long buildup toward October.
Here’s everything to know about Phillies spring training this year:
First spring training game: Feb. 21 at Blue Jays (Dunedin, Fla.)
Spring training home opener: Feb. 22 vs. Pirates (Clearwater)
World Baseball Classic:
Last spring training game: March 23 vs. Rays (Clearwater)
Opening day: March 26 vs. Rangers, 4:05 p.m., Citizens Bank Park
The Phillies’ biggest moves of the offseason were bringing back two members of their core: Kyle Schwarber (right), and J.T. Realmuto.
What additions did the Phillies make?
It was really more about the addition they didn’t make.
When the Phillies went to sleep on Jan. 15, they believed Bo Bichette would be in their lineup for seven seasons after they agreed to his $200 million asking price. By lunchtime on Jan. 16, he signed with the Mets. Dave Dombrowski described it as a “gut punch,” even though the former Blue Jays shortstop wasn’t a consideration for the Phillies until after the holidays.
They prioritized bringing back Kyle Schwarber and J.T. Realmuto, and after signing the former to a five-year, $150 million contract in mid-December, they made an offer to the latter. Talks with Realmuto stalled over money, and the Phillies began considering alternatives. Bichette expressed an interest in switching positions and met with the Phillies over Zoom on Jan. 12.
The Phillies are counting on outfielder Adolis García to rebound from a down 2025 season with the Rangers.
Which new Phillie is most intriguing for 2026?
Lauber: Does Justin Crawford count as “new?” Oh, OK, we’ll get to him later. In that case, García. In 2023, he hit 39 homers, got down-ballot MVP votes, and dominated the postseason for the World Series champion Rangers. The Phillies bet on bouncebacks last year from Max Kepler and Jordan Romano and went bust. Will their latest free-agent gamble work out better?
March: Keller. The right-hander had been a starter for most of his career before his breakout season last year as a high-leverage reliever for the Cubs, and he has retained his starter’s arsenal of four-seam, sinker, slider, changeup, and sweeper. That, plus a jump of over 3 mph on his fastball in 2025, makes him an intriguing back-end option in the Phillies’ bullpen.
What did the rest of the NL East do this offseason?
Rooting for the Mets must feel like riding the Coney Island Cyclone. And the last few months surely left fans nauseous, dizzy, and uncertain if they’re really satisfied.
Consider: After going from a 5½-game lead in the division to missing the playoffs in a three-month collapse for the ages last season, the Mets traded Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil and didn’t re-sign Edwin Díaz and Pete Alonso. New Yorkers lost their minds, sure that president of baseball ops David Stearns misplaced his.
But the Mets signed Bichette, relievers Devin Williams, Luke Weaver, and Luis García, first baseman Jorge Polanco, and center fielder Luis Robert Jr., and traded for second baseman Marcus Semien along with ace Freddy Peralta and swingman Tobias Myers.
Are the Mets different? Oh yeah. Are they better? We’ll see.
The Braves hired a new manager (Walt Weiss) and bulked up the bullpen with Robert Suarez and the return of closer Raisel Iglesias. They re-signed shortstop Ha-Seong Kim (out until at least May after hand surgery), traded for utility man Mauricio Dubón, and signed outfielder Mike Yastrzemski.
Two other big moves: The Marlins acquired 23-year-old outfielder Owen Caissie from the Cubs for right-handed starter Edward Cabrera; the Nationals traded top-of-the-rotation lefty MacKenzie Gore to the Rangers, plunging Washington even further into a rebuild under a new, ultra-young front office (36-year-old president Paul Toboni) and manager (33-year-old Blake Butera).
— Lauber
The Mets’ busy offseason included trading for Brewers ace Freddy Peralta.
Which NL East addition will have the biggest impact?
Lauber: Bichette. What, you expected a different answer? If nothing else, the drama will be delicious when Bichette makes his first visit to Philly (June 18-21, by the way). But he’s also a terrific hitter who will be learning a new position on the second-largest payroll in baseball. Get your popcorn ready.
March: Peralta. The collapse of the Mets’ starting rotation was one of the main contributors to their free-fall out of playoff contention at the end of last season. With the Brewers in 2025, the right-hander had a 2.70 ERA over 176⅔ innings and posted the most wins in the National League (17-6). Peralta finished fifth in Cy Young voting and is now positioned to lead the Mets’ rotation.
Zack Wheeler’s return from thoracic outlet decompression surgery is still to be determined.
What are the top Phillies storylines this spring?
Lauber: A year ago, Zack Wheeler would have been my choice to start one game for all the marbles. (Yes, over even Tarik Skubal and Paul Skenes.) Wheeler is now five months removed from thoracic outlet decompression surgery. Every time he picks up a ball in spring training will be newsworthy, not only in determining when he will return to competition but what he looks like when he does. Will he still be an ace of aces?
March: Andrew Painter has been a top storyline for many springs now, from teenage phenom with a chance to make the team to his road back from Tommy John surgery. Well, he’s back now. Painter pitched 118 innings in 2025, all in the minors, never receiving the major league call-up expected in “July-ish.” This will finally be his first normal spring since 2023, and there is a rotation spot up for grabs. Will he earn it?
What’s the Phillies’ biggest roster decision?
Lauber: Although the decision to commit to Crawford was made early in the offseason, it’s about to play out in real time. At 22, he would be the youngest outfielder to make a Phillies opening-day roster since Greg Luzinski and Mike Anderson in 1973. As the Phillies turn over the keys to center field, Crawford will be at the center of attention.
March: The Phillies stocked up on potential bullpen depth this winter, making a host of minor league deals, a few trades, and a Rule 5 selection of McCambley. Six reliever spots are likely spoken for, barring injury: lefties José Alvarado and Tanner Banks, and righties Jhoan Duran, Keller, Orion Kerkering, and Bowlan. There will be some stiff competition for the final two spots.
Shortstop prospect Aidan Miller should also get some work at third base this spring.
Which prospect should fans look out for?
Lauber: As you watch Crawford and Painter, don’t take your eyes off Aidan Miller. The Phillies intend to expose the 22-year-old shortstop to third base in spring training, but it will be interesting to see how much third he actually plays — and how fast they push him if he starts hot in triple A and/or Alec Bohm falters again in April.
March: Gabriel Rincones Jr. made a big impression last spring with a couple of towering home runs. The outfielder was added to the Phillies’ 40-man roster ahead of the Rule 5 draft, and he could get a major league look at some point in 2026. Rincones, who will be 25 next month, struggles against left-handed pitching, so any opportunity would likely be in a strict platoon. But he has some big power potential against righties.
