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The Sixers Fired Daryl Morey
Published:
Shams:
He writes further: “Head coach Nick Nurse will continue in his role into a fourth season with the 76ers, sources tell ESPN. Four-time NBA championship architect Bob Myers, the president of sports for Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, will be tasked to lead the search for the new head executive for the 76ers and he will oversee the franchise’s basketball department in the interim.”
Now here’s the thing – I believe that Shams should give a H/T to Howard Eskin for being out in front on the Daryl Morey thing. Howard did not technically report that the Sixers were firing Morey, though he said on Monday that the organization was “having serious discussions to fire/replace” him. Then he wrote on Monday night that “More sources have now told me Daryl Morey, Sixers President of Basketball Operations is all but done with the team,” which in my mind is good enough for at least some sort of partial credit, maybe a follow up tweet saying something like “@HowardEskin was on it.” That’s not too much to ask, but I don’t think the big fancy news breakers at ESPN give out those types of hat tips unless they really have to.
Anyway, Sean will write something deeper on Morey, but nobody should be too surprised by this. If they were going to fire someone, Morey was first in line. This team didn’t have any depth. It didn’t get better at the deadline. The Jared McCain trade was widely panned. And the max contracts for Joel Embiid and Paul George have this franchise in a tough position for several more seasons because they are somehow old and somehow young at the same time with Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe. So in comes another executive to try to maximize what little wiggle room they have here and figure something out.
Personally, I think Morey built two championship-caliber teams in Philly.
The first was 2021, when the Embiid/Ben Simmons/Tobias Harris/Seth Curry/Danny Green group won 49 games en route to the #1 seed in the East. They had no business losing to the Hawks in the playoffs. None whatsoever.
The other was in 2023, the second James Harden season, when they went up 3-2 on the Celtics and then choked in games 6 and 7. That team had MVP Embiid and should have finished the job. They would have defeated the Heat in the conference finals to set up an Embiid vs. Jokic championship series.
Alas, here we are. Daryl I think did a good job cleaning up a mess when he arrived, and put together a couple of great teams early on, but things largely petered out.
EDIT – here’s the press release:
Philadelphia 76ers Managing Partner Josh Harris announced today that Daryl Morey will depart the organization. Morey joined the 76ers on November 2, 2020, and the team had a 270-212 record in the regular season (28-26 in postseason) during his tenure.
Bob Myers, President of Sports for Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment (HBSE), will lead the process of identifying a new leader of basketball operations and oversee the department in the interim.
“I have a tremendous amount of respect for Daryl personally and professionally, and I’m grateful for his contributions over the last six seasons,” Harris said. “After speaking with Daryl, we determined that it was time for a fresh start. Bob Myers will lead the process of identifying a new leader and I believe his experience in constructing four NBA championship teams will be a valuable resource to our organization.
“To our fans, your frustration and disappointment are understandable and warranted. We have fallen well short of our own expectations and failed to deliver in the way this city deserves. That bothers me deeply and I have confidence in Bob to establish a path forward for our franchise.”
Myers joined HBSE in a full-time capacity in October 2025 as President of Sports. Prior to joining HBSE, he worked as an NBA commentator for ESPN. He is a two-time NBA Executive of the Year who constructed the Golden State Warriors dynasty that won NBA championships in 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2022.
“I know how much the 76ers mean to the City of Philadelphia, and it’s important we find the right leader to shape the future of this team,” Myers said. “The process will start immediately, and we will be thorough and deliberate in our evaluations. I believe this is a destination for top talent across the league and look forward to solidifying our infrastructure moving forward.”
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com