How LeBron James signing with 76ers got harder because of Dean Wade, Anfernee Simons and Ariel Hukporti

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A few of the teams pursuing LeBron James in free agency have done very little while waiting to see if James will sign a contract with their team.

That hasn't been the approach of the Philadelphia 76ers, though.

They've signed Dean Wade, Anfernee Simons and Ariel Hukporti.

And because of that, it could actually be tougher to sign LeBron.

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Did the 76ers hurt their chances of signing LeBron?

Purely from a financial standpoint, Philly is in worse shape to sign James because of the signings of Wade, Simons and Hukporti.

"The 76ers split up their $15 million non-tax midlevel exception into Dean Wade and Anfernee Simons," ESPN's Bobby Marks explains as part of a new article on Friday. "They then used part of the $5.5 million biannual exception to sign Ariel Hukporti. As a result of the three signings, Philadelphia has only the $3.9 million veterans exception available."

A few other teams' most likely path to James is also the $3.9 million veterans exception, so the 76ers aren't alone here.

They just were a team that had the choice of not filling those other financial spots with new players before knowing what would happen with LeBron.

Given the patience he's taking, though, that would've been a tough approach for Philly.

James has also made it clear that money isn't the main pursuit of his this offseason. It's still relevant, though, because it impacts team-building in general.

If LeBron ends up in Philadelphia, he'll have solid teammates, including some new guys, but without a big contract to show for it.