76ers Rumors: James Ennis Turns Down Higher Salary to Sign PHI Contract

The Philadelphia 76ers and free agent forward James Ennis III have agreed to a two-year, $4.1 million deal, Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium reported Tuesday afternoon. 

"Ennis turned down more salary from multiple teams to return to a championship contender," Charania added.

The 29-year-old arrived to Philadelphia in February when the Houston Rockets traded him in exchange for draft considerations. As a Sixer, Ennis appeared in 29 games (two starts) including the postseason. Overall in 2018-19, Ennis averaged 6.7 points, 3.1 rebounds and 0.7 assists.

The Sixers are Ennis' sixth NBA team since entering the league as a second-round draft pick in 2013. 

There was a chance Ennis would join his seventh team, as SNY's Ian Begley reported Monday that the New York Knicks, Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers were "among the teams with cap space" who reached out to Ennis.

In the end, Ennis chose to stay put. In doing so, he kept with Philly's frontcourt theme so far in free agency as ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski has reported the Sixers have agreed to a four-year, $109 deal with All-Star Al Horford and agreed to re-sign Tobias Harris on a five-year, $180 million pact Sunday. 

The team followed those expensive signings by agreeing to a one-year, veteran's minimum contract with Kyle O'Quinn on Monday, per PhillyVoice's Kyle Neubeck and the Philadelphia Inquirer's Keith Pompey.

Presumably, as things stand now and taking into account things can change instantly in the NBA, the new-look Sixers will take the floor in 2019-2020 with Harris, Horford, Joel Embiid, Josh Richardson and Ben Simmons, who was reportedly offered a max contract by Philly earlier Tuesday, as their starting five. 

Ennis will provide reliable depth behind Harris, as he did last season, averaging 15.6 minutes per game in the regular season.