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Seven Sixers Thoughts as We Bring Cautious Optimism into the 2025-26 Regular Season
By Sean Barnard
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The Philadelphia 76ers are one of the biggest mysteries in sports. Opening night will take place on October 22nd against the Boston Celtics and there is no full clarity on who will be taking the floor or what this team will really look like.
If everything breaks 100% right, this Sixers team can be a contender in an extremely weak Eastern Conference.
But things going 100% right hasn’t exactly been the norm for the Sixers organization, and they are coming off a 24-win season. This came after Paul George became the first free agent to sign a full-scale max contract in Philadelphia and pushed this team into what we thought was a championship contender tier. Falling short of those expectations is an understatement based on what was put on the floor last year, but nonetheless the page must be turned.
With less than two weeks until the regular season is officially set to begin, here are a few notable storylines to keep your eye on coming out of the Sixers training camp as the build up to live basketball continues.
1) Checking Boxes is the New “Ramping Up”
It was good to see Joel Embiid out there at the blue and white scrimmage, dunking the ball and moving well, though there hasn’t been a comprehensive update or set plan since he underwent offseason knee surgery, nor has there been much in the George department. The two should be viewed in separate categories based on their history. For Embiid, he played a career-low 19 games last year and failed to look like himself during those brief opportunities. He underwent a clean-up surgery this offseason and has looked slimmer at training camp. The track record for big men with lower leg issues is not great, but Embiid is still less than two calendar years removed from being a consensus top five player in all of basketball. What level he can perform at when he does step on the floor will basically decide if the Sixers have any chance at contending.
To defend this a bit, I find it more refreshing to acknowledge the uncertainty rather than how it was handled last year. Embiid has bluntly put it himself that he isn’t going to be able to predict when the knee is an issue and when it isn’t. Rather than committing to anything they can’t follow through with, the Sixers and Embiid have opted to plead the 5th as often as possible.
Embiid’s performance at the blue and white scrimmage has been by far the most positive update surrounding him in quite some time. He was an active participant in the scrimmage and looked like himself, which was a refreshing change. It was a far cry from true game intensity, but Embiid looked slim, moved well, and showed he is back to dunking the basketball. The former MVP has missed all three preseason games, but him being active was a welcomed change to otherwise nonexistent updates. It is not a question if he can still play, it is if he can remain healthy for an extended period of time and it was nice to just see him moving on the floor in a competitive setting.
George finished an underwhelming first season in Philadelphia in which everything went wrong around him more than he was the cause of it. His 41 games played and 16.2 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 4.3 assists weren’t exactly something to write home about, but he battled injuries throughout and very rarely deserved the biggest slice of the blame pie. His latest ailment was a similar arthroscopic surgery to Embiid, but stemmed from an offseason workout.
Both players are in the process of checking their boxes to get on the floor, but who knows if they’re truly ready to go on opening night.
2) Learn the Name Trendon Watford
Speaking of injuries, free agent addition Trendon Watford also is on the injury report with a hamstring injury. He has missed preseason games with the issue and been limited in training camp to this point. The Sixers have expressed patience is the priority given the timing and the nature of the soft tissue injury.
When Watford does get back on the floor, expect him to be the most needle-moving free agency addition. The lack of power forwards on the roster has been a popular talking point and Watford should be looked at as the leader in the clubhouse to earn this role the starting four spot. It may not happen from night one given the nature of his injury and Nick Nurse’s expected lineup experimentation, but he checks a lot of boxes that this team needs.
Across his four-year career with the Portland Trail Blazers and Brooklyn Nets, he has averaged 7.9 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 1.9 assists in 17.6 minutes per night. He stands 6-foot-9 and is a fluid mover. Watford is effective at grabbing rebounds at one end, pushing the pace, and playmaking for teammates on the other end. He is a better playmaker than you would expect for his size and it is worth noting he is childhood friends with Tyrese Maxey. The LSU product has yet to play under the bright light of expectations at the NBA level and a change in scenery could bring out the best in the 24-year-old. Expect him to grow into a notable part of this Sixers team as the season progresses and a clear top seven rotation player.
3) Power Forward Position Not as Thin as Perceived
Looking beyond Watford, the Sixers have a few other options at the power forward position. Paul George was open to the idea when asked about it at media day, which has been a sticking point for him in most of his career. They also selected PF/C Johni Broome with the 35th overall pick and added Dominick Barlow and Jabari Walker on two-way contracts. Both players were surprises not to receive a full-scale standard contract with someone this summer, and there is a pretty convincing case that the Sixers have the most talented collection of two-way talent in the NBA.
While most teams typically use the slots for young, raw players not ready for NBA minutes just yet, (and this is essentially what it is designed for) the Sixers have seemingly prioritized players with some level of NBA experience. Both Barlow and Walker have had some moments in preseason with Barlow especially shining. Nurse has been complimentary of each name and has been hesitant to put forth any sort of depth chart or pecking order. Having two guys on two-way contracts making a legitimate push for consistent minutes is a solid sign.
The Sixers have also elected to once again enter this season with just 14 players on standard contracts rather than the maximum of 15. On one hand, this provides some roster flexibility by allowing you to make two-for-one or three-for-two trades without needing to cut a player and they also are short one contract against the salary cap. But it also allows the two-way players to be upgraded to a standard deal if they earn it. This same process played itself out last year with Justin Edwards receiving a standard contract and proving to be one of the biggest bright spots. Don’t be shocked if this occurs again this year with Barlow my early prediction.
4) Quentin Grimes Drama is Settled
The biggest loose end of the offseason was Quentin Grimes’ restricted free agency. He was traded to the Sixers midseason in a deal for Caleb Martin, which somehow wasn’t even close to the worst trade the Mavericks made. Across his 28 games played in Philadelphia, Grimes averaged 21.9 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 4.5 assists and was the Sixers clear best player.
Grimes was in search of a massive pay-day this summer and there was a huge gap between what he wanted and what the Sixers were willing to offer. When push came to shove, Grimes officially opted into his $8.7 million contract and will play on a one year deal before becoming an unrestricted free agent. Obviously Grimes would have preferred to have signed a long-term deal and have his future decided. But he has said all the right things since returning to camp and this is now the most important season of his professional career. The track record of players taking their qualifying offer to bet on themselves is not great, with it being more often players ending up fighting out of the minimum contract pool. It is now entirely up to Grimes to prove last season was not a fluke or empty calorie production and earn his desired payday.
The Sixers have caught some heat for their handling of this situation. While the optics are not the best, it makes sense on a lot of levels from the organization’s perspective. For starters, they have a guy under contract who wanted in the ballpark of $30 million annually playing for them for $8.7 million. Grimes holds a no-trade clause and would need to approve any potential deal, but it is essentially guaranteed that he will start and finish the year in a Sixers uniform. He could theoretically still be traded, but this would only happen for a team that intends on extending him. Doing so would only allow him to accept a contract that is a 120% raise of this $8.7 million or max him out at roughly $10.5 million next season. If he wants a higher dollar figure than this he is going to need to prove why he is worth this and then become an unrestricted free agent next summer.
But the bigger storyline that was ignored is the Sixers entire cap sheet in these negotiations. Embiid signed a three-year contract extension for $187.6 million that is just set to begin next season. George also has two years and a player option remaining, each worth $51+ million annuall,y and Maxey has four years remaining on his deal. There is a lot of money already committed without a clear idea of how good this team will even be. The Sixers can resume talks for a longterm contract with Grimes next offseason if they choose to, but letting it breathe for a season isn’t the worst plan in the world.
5) The Guard Talent is Legitimate
The headline addition of the offseason was third overall pick VJ Edgecombe. The Baylor product has checked every box you could hope for from a personality and work ethic standpoint in the early parts of training camp. Perhaps most noteworthy, Nurse has been extremely complimentary of his compatibility with Tyrese Maxey. This also has led to conversations of three guard starting lineups looking increasingly likely.
How these combination of young guards is balanced may end up being the biggest storyline of the season. Jared McCain was on his way to winning Rookie of the Year last season before his season ended with a torn meniscus. He averaged 15.3 points, 2.6 assists, and 2.4 rebounds per game across his 25.7 minutes played in 23 games and showed a level of off-ball movement and three-point ability that could completely change the Sixers offense. Tyrese Maxey is also one year removed from his first All-Star appearance and Grimes and Edgecombe will make their impact felt.
It is unlikely that all four of these guys will end up key pieces in the long haul together. But the Sixers need to sort through what combinations work and which players’ skillsets are compatible with each other. It takes game reps to do this and plenty of experimentation is set to occur throughout the season. These four guards will crack the top 5-7 of this Sixers team on any given night depending on the availability of the stars ahead of them.
Any way you slice it, having this many high level young athletes who can shoot, pass, and dribble is refreshing. The Sixers have gone the direction of acquiring the most talented players and figuring out the fit later. Based on the uncertainty of Embiid and George this makes a lot of sense. Plenty of this season will be about sorting through these guard combinations and figuring out what works for both the short and longterm.
6) This is a Prove-It Year for Nick Nurse
Everything that could go wrong did go wrong for the Sixers last season and it’s unfair to completely put that on Nurse. It has to be unbelievably frustrating as a head coach to genuinely have no idea whether or not your best players are going to play or not, as was consistently the case last year.
But it did feel the white flag was waived prematurely. Too often it felt like Nurse was willing to throw the hands up and say “What do you want me to do?”
That just cannot be the case this year. For a guy who was branded as an X’s and O’s genius who has won multiple championships at different levels in different countries, there just has to be set counters in place. There must be a plan for the nights Joel Embiid is there and the nights that he is not. There surely will be more injuries that pop up and unforeseen circumstances that occur. But Nurse has to be as prepared as he possibly can for this season and begin to set a standard of consistency that was never reached last year.
It was his second season in Philadelphia last year and none of the big issues were his fault. But it just has to be better from start to finish this year and Nurse is included in that.
7) Just Give This Team a Chance
Expectations have hung over this Sixers team for over a decade to this point. “The Process” was built upon escaping mediocrity and building a sustainable contender. The second round jokes have been a staple NBA punchline for years now and the Sixers have only regressed in attempting to reach the championship peak.
But for the first time since before Joel Embiid landed in Philadelphia there are essentially no expectations. You don’t have to talk yourself into this being the year they can win a championship, nor get in touch with the top prospects and lottery odds.
Building a consistent identity has been a clear message from Maxey for this Sixers season. This may not be the best Sixers team you have ever seen, but expect this team to have a level of fight that has been missing in recent years. Beyond the top end stars, there is a collection of young, talented players who are hungry on both ends of the floor. There will be levels of athleticism and effort beyond what has been seen in recent years. Don’t get lost in the expectations and enjoy watching this team play some good hoops.
Sean Barnard has covered the Philadelphia 76ers and general Philly Sports for over six years in a variety of roles and for multiple outlets. Currently works as a Content Writer for DraftKings Network, Sixers/NBA Insider for Philadelphia's Fox Sports the Gambler, and co-host of Sixers & Phillies Digest on Youtube. Forever Trusting the Process.