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Seven Bold Sixers Predictions Ahead of the 2025-26 Season
By Sean Barnard
Published:
The countdown to the Philadelphia 76ers’ season is fully over, but the season arrives with a bit of a different outlook this year.
For the first time since Joel Embiid took the floor and the fruits of The Process began to be harvested, there is no way to have true expectations surrounding the team. Their 24 wins last year reset the clock to some extent, and the organization has made a clear effort to get younger, more guard-dominated, and attempt to emerge in a wide-open Eastern Conference. Injuries have been a cloud hanging over Embiid throughout his career, and the rain finally came down for a career-low 19 games in the 2024-25 season. Whether this is the beginning of the end, or he can return to the clear top five player in basketball he was less than two calendar years ago, will play the largest role in deciding the Sixers’ season.
Nonetheless, the action will continue on the floor for 82 games at the minimum. Here are seven predictions heading into the 2025-26 season for the most unpredictable team in the NBA.
7. Adem Bona etches a chapter in Sixers backup center lore
One of the biggest X-factors of this entire season will be the level of play from Adem Bona. The second-year big man made the most of his extended opportunity and saw much more opportunity on the floor than would have been the case had the team lived up to expectations. Across the 58 total games he played, 11 of which were starts, Bona averaged 5.8 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks per game in just 15.6 minutes of action. Across the final 11 games, Bona averaged 13.6 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 2.5 blocks per game in 29.1 minutes.
During the final preseason game, Bona was inserted into the starting lineup alongside Embiid. This has been an option Nick Nurse has discussed quite a bit throughout training camp, and it was interesting to get a look at in a game setting. Bona is willing and eager to do the dirty work by blocking shots, rebounding at a high rate, and playing with all-out effort all the time. The injury concerns surrounding Embiid will likely end up being more evident in things like his rebounding and defense, and pairing him with a player like Bona to pick up the slack makes some sense. There are some issues with the spacing, but this is an option that Nurse will at least have in his back pocket.
But what has been made clear is that Bona is the favorite to fill in the non-Embiid center minutes. Andre Drummond looked like a shell of himself last season, and is a year older with his injury history a bit longer. Drummond remains a positive locker room presence, but Bona is the clear top big man option. He has some similar endearing qualities to Paul Reed, but, unlike the current Pistons’ big man, Bona is completely content playing within his box of responsibilities and doing the basic center things. Expect his primary role to be as the Sixers’ backup center and for him to be added to the list of fan favorites. Bona has an infectious energy and positive personality that will help fans buy back in.
6. Trendon Watford ends up as the starting power forward
One reason I am not overly optimistic for Bona filling a starting spot is that Trendon Watford has not been able to show what he can do just yet. The 24-year-old signed with the Sixers in free agency but has battled a hamstring injury throughout the preseason and has been ruled out for opening night. But when Watford can return to the floor, expect him to be one of the clear top rotation players and eventually earn the starting power forward spot.
The LSU product has spent two seasons with the Trail Blazers and two seasons with the Brooklyn Nets so far in his four-year career. He is coming off a season in which he averaged 10.2 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 2.6 assists across just 20.8 minutes per game. It is also worth noting that Watford has been friends with Tyrese Maxey since they were young and grew up in the same general area of Texas. Watford has not received a true chance to play extended minutes on a team with any real expectations to this point in his career, but it is fair to be optimistic that this could bring out the best in him. He has a skillset the Sixers have desperately need and should fill the void left by Guerschon Yabusele. Watford is a solid rebounder and a really advanced ball handler and playmaker for his side. Expect him to find a nice niche pulling in rebounds and pushing the fast break himself while also being an important secondary playmaker in the half court. There surely will be plenty of lineup experimentation in the early parts of the season, but expect Watford to earn the starting power forward spot and prove to be a much more important part of this Sixers team than many are expecting.
5. Tyrese Maxey gets back to being a clear All-Star
It was an interesting season for Maxey. For the first time in his career, he showed a clear frustration on the floor, throwing his hands up in annoyance and losing his trademark level of joy in the early parts of the season. But he responded by collecting himself and playing up to his All-Star standard through the middle of the season before it fully went off the rails. Maxey averaged 26.3 points, 6.1 assists, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.8 steals per game overall but failed to make an All-Star appearance after earning his first nomination the season before.
There is no doubt that Maxey is an incredibly talented basketball player who will play a massive role on this Sixers team now and moving forward. But the list of players who can elevate a franchise as the best player is incredibly slim, and Maxey was not quite ready to join this last year, nor is it certain he ever will be a true 1A guy. But the 24-year-old has responded by taking a more forward-facing role in the Sixers’ leadership, flying out several of the younger members of the team for offseason workouts, and attempting to set the new standard for the organization.
You can have some mild disappointment that Maxey was not able to overcome the situation around him last year, but it is tough to place any sort of real blame for why the season went south on him directly. He has checked every box for what you hope for in a young player from a work ethic and personality standpoint as he prepares to enter his sixth NBA season. Maxey is not a player I would ever be willing to bet against, and look for him to return to his desired trajectory this season. His best basketball has still not been played, and count on some of it being put on display this season.
4. Paul George is going to be just fine
Flashback to this point last year, and the Sixers were being crowned the winners of the NBA offseason after signing Paul George to a full-scale max contract in free agency. The nine-time All-Star suited up for just 41 games last year and averaged 16.2 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 4.3 assists while shooting just 35.8% from beyond the three-point arc. This was the fifth time in the past six years he played fewer than 60 games in a season.
It is fair to acknowledge that George did not live up to expectations and may never play to the standard his contract dictates. But he also never got physically right last year and fought through it for longer than many players would have. He suffered a bone bruise in his knee in preseason and then reinjured this in November. The 35-year-old also required painkilling injections before the All-Star break just to remain on the floor. My sense was that George did his best to buy into the “Philly toughness” and “East Coast mentality” as much as he could, but there came a point where the team’s priority shifted toward tanking to maximize their chances of keeping the protected draft pick. He absolutely needs to be better still, but George has 908 career games to his name, in which he has averaged 20.6 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 3.7 assists while shooting 38.3% from beyond the three-point arc. The sample size for who he has been as a basketball player is pretty clear.
Even with him being on the backend of his career, George has a skillset that will age just fine. He will be more expensive than you would prefer if he ends up reduced to a three-and-D type role, but this is also essential to have on a roster with Joel Embiid and a collection of young guards. This is not a Tobias Harris situation, and it should not be forgotten the zero points and two shot attempts he had in his final Sixers postseason game. Wipe the slate clean a bit and expect Paul George to surprise a few people this season.
3. Quentin Grimes ends up the odd man out in guard competition
Outside of injuries, the clear biggest storyline surrounding this Sixers team is the outlook for the collection of young guards. Quentin Grimes was the biggest loose end of the offseason and took until the October 1st deadline to accept his qualifying offer to play on a one-year deal and become an unrestricted free agent next year. He was just about the lone bright spot for the second half of the season after arriving in Philadelphia at the trade deadline. Across the 28 games and 25 starts he logged with the Sixers, the 25-year-old averaged 21.9 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 4.5 assists while connecting on some of the best efficiency of his career on his career-high volume.
He will now be added to a depth chart with Maxey hoping to return to his All-Star standard, Jared McCain looking to return to the Rookie of the Year level he flashed to be across his 23 games played, and third-overall pick V.J. Edgecombe. McCain was out for the season before Grimes arrived, Edgecombe is a rookie, and Maxey only logged nine games alongside Grimes before his season ended prematurely. There are sure to be plenty of lineup combinations and experimentations to see which players’ skillsets complement each other as the Sixers sort through who the true foundational pieces are. It should be noted that the organization has significantly more invested in the three other young guards outside of Grimes.
If the Sixers viewed Grimes as a foundational piece, they could have stepped up and signed him to a long-term deal this offseason. But there is clearly some level of doubt about how legitimate this production was in the lost season, as well as how it all fits into the context of this team. You cannot dispute that Grimes dropped 46 points against the Rockets and 44 points against the Warriors while sporting a Sixers jersey and capitalized on the most offensive freedom in his career. But you also cannot dispute the Sixers were 4-24 in the games that he played, or that this is was his fourth team across his four NBA seasons. The lack of motivation from the Sixers to offer a long-term contract was a bit telling, and it is going to be really interesting to see what Grimes’ role ends up looking like this year.
2. Joel Embiid plays 45+ games this season
The fact that Joel Embiid is not on the injury report at all heading into the season opener felt like something incredibly unlikely just a few weeks ago. So would the fact of his playing in a preseason game, which he had not done since 2023. We certainly are at the low point of the Embiid injury outlook, even while this cloud has hung over his head for the entirety of his career. He has had two knee surgeries in the span of 14 months and played a career-low 19 games last season. Embiid himself has been clear about how he is not entirely sure how his body will react this year when the wear and tear of the season begins.
But if you are to look past the 19 games played last year and 39 the season before when these issues really stepped to center stage, Embiid has played 66, 68, 51, 51, 64, and 63 games across the previous six years. He will not earn any Ironman awards for this availability, but that is completely acceptable and pretty much the norm for a star in the modern NBA. Embiid may not return to quite this, but suiting up for 45+ games feels a reasonable expectation. Maybe some of this is a prisoner of the moment take after he looked as skinny as he ever has and moved as hoped in the preseason finale. But just physically seeing him on the floor and looking like Joel Embiid is the most reassuring update in two years.
1. The Sixers earn a Top 6 playoff seed
Certainly connected to the previous prediction, keep your viewing plans open for the postseason. Not only am I backing the Sixers to earn their way into the postseason, but for them to escape the play-in entirely and earn a top six seed.
Looking at last year’s Eastern Conference standings, the Detroit Pistons earned the sixth seed with a 44-38 record. Philadelphia won just 24 games last year, in which everything that could go wrong did go wrong. But looking at the wins before this disastrous season, the Sixers won 47 in the 2023-24 season, 54 in 2022-23, 51 in 2021-22, won 49 of the 72 in the shortened 2020-21 season, 51 wins the year before this, and 52 back in 2017-18. Outside of last season, the Sixers have produced a winning percentage of .573 or better in every year of Embiid’s career following his rookie season.
There are questions about how it all fits together, but this year’s roster has the most collective guard talent Embiid has ever played with. Expect this group to be ready to lead the charge on the nights Embiid misses and for there to be an alternate identity.
But this prediction is less about the Sixers directly and more about the rest of the Eastern Conference. The Indiana Pacers will be without Tyrese Haliburton due to a torn Achilles as they look to defend their Eastern Conference title. Jayson Tatum is recovering from an Achilles tear of his own, and the Celtics were major sellers this summer in salary cap-motivated moves. There has been more noise surrounding the potential of Giannis Antetokounmpo forcing his way out of Milwaukee than any sort of belief in the roster he will suit up with. Yes, there are questions about this Sixers team. But there are questions about the entirety of the Eastern Conference, and things are wide open for the taking.
Last year was an embarrassing season, and just about every member of the Sixers has not been shy to acknowledge that publicly. They have retooled and diversified their style of play, and there is a competitive spirit being intentionally fostered as an identity of the franchise. The window to compete is still not fully shut in this era of Sixers basketball, and look them to be able to scrap for an above .500 record and get back in the postseason.
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.