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  • Justin Edwards stays ready after struggles, and ‘the work shows’ for hometown hero in Sixers’ win vs. Celtics

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    PHILADELPHIA – It is very rare for someone to beat Tyrese Maxey to a basketball gym.

    In fact, Maxey’s close friend and new teammate Trendon Watford said on Tuesday morning that during the offseason, Maxey has often completed two or three workouts by the time Watford arrives at 9:00 a.m. to begin his day. Maxey’s work ethic has almost become legendary around these parts.

    On Tuesday morning, the Sixers held their typical 10:00 a.m. shootaround to finish preparing for their third contest against the Boston Celtics in as many weeks. Maxey was floored by what he saw when he stepped onto the court: another player getting shots up before him. It was Justin Edwards, the second-year wing desperate to submit a quality performance if his name was called.

    “He was up here at, like, 8:00,” Maxey said. “Those little mental things, they mean something. I was really proud of him for being there. He didn’t play last [game], in here early, 8:00 a.m., shot the ball well before shootaround… The work shows.”

    The work indeed showed on Tuesday night, as Edwards flushed a challenging 10-game stretch to begin the season and nearly posted a perfect shooting line. Edwards made his first eight shots against the Celtics, with five of those buckets coming from beyond the arc. On his lone miss, Kelly Oubre Jr. – one of Edwards’ most vocal supporters – grabbed an offensive rebound and scored the deciding basket of the game.

    “It didn’t feel good, but I shot it,” Edwards said. “Like I said, a game-winning miss… It all worked out in my favor, right?”

    MORE: Edwards’ heroics lead Sixers to dramatic win over Celtics

    Edwards unquestionably earned the right to have a teammate pick him up. He spent the entire game keeping his team afloat with the most well-rounded performance of his season, and quite possibly of his young NBA career. Edwards played tremendous defense across multiple positions, had a few key assists and rebounds… and made his first eight shot attempts. Edwards’ efforts were not limited to shooting, but everything looks better when shots go down:

    In general, Edwards is rather muted. His answers to questions from reporters are short and to the point. He is not nearly as gregarious in front of cameras and microphones as he is behind the scenes. On the court, even in his finest moments Edwards’ reactions have been tame.

    But after Edwards knocked down the third of three consecutive triples on Tuesday night to put his hometown team ahead of their rivals, the emotion poured out of the 21-year-old. He started screaming as the Celtics called timeout. He said he “low-key” got chills as he realized the reaction he had generated from fellow Philadelphians.

    In many ways, it seemed like an out-of-body experience for Edwards. But it turns out that was actually him in his natural form.

    “I actually kind of chilled out when I got to the NBA, honestly. I’ve aways been that type of guy,” Edwards said, before he pointed to a special guest in the back of the room. “You can ask my Momma, she’s standing right there.”

    What did Edwards say in that moment? Before he could answer, maternal instincts took over 15 feet away.

    “If he says it,” Ebony Twiggs, Edwards’ mother and a former professional basketball player said, “he’s going to get a beating.”

    Edwards 11.12.25 2Colleen Claggett/For PhillyVoice

    Edwards has a lot working in his favor. He has the natural talent that made him a five-star recruit. He has basketball in his blood. He has tremendous feel for the game and can make quick and prudent decisions in a way very few young players can. He has a sturdy wing frame. He has the requisite mobility to chase guards around the perimeter as he did for much of Tuesday’s game. He has composure. But perhaps the most important thing Edwards has is Sixers head coach Nick Nurse in his corner as a passionate advocate.

    Nurse has the utmost belief in Edwards. It has been clear since Edwards emerged as an undrafted rookie on a two-way contract and became one of the silver linings of a miserable 2024-25 season.

    That is why, after not playing him at all in the Sixers’ previous game, Nurse confidently called upon Edwards to check into Tuesday’s contest early on. Edwards’ season-long slump was just about meaningless to Nurse. Asked about Edwards’ ability to stay ready, Nurse provided one of the most flattering quotes a head coach has given about a player in recent memory.

    “I love him,” Nurse said. “I don’t worry about him. He works extremely hard. He really worked on his shooting. He goes out there and tries as hard as he can on defense every time. He’s not perfect, but he’s a really good, developing young player that I love. He has a bad game, it doesn’t even phase me, because I love him.”

    Edwards flashed a wide grin as Nurse’s comments were read back to him. He thought back to an early personal low during one of the Sixers’ first practices of the year. Edwards was already having trouble finding himself on the floor, but his coach lifted his spirits. Edwards was sitting on the sideline, he said, when Nurse walked over and said something to him.

    “I’m not worried about you,” Nurse told Edwards. “And you shouldn’t be worried about yourself, because it’s all going to work out.”

    Follow Adam on Twitter: @SixersAdam
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    Adam Aaronson

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  • Observations after Edwards has monster night off bench in Sixers’ win over Celtics 

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    The Sixers shook off another rough third quarter and beat the Celtics on Tuesday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena.

    Justin Edwards played a giant role off the bench, scoring 22 vital points in a 102-100 win.

    Ironically, the Sixers got their game-winning hoop on Edwards’ one miss. Kelly Oubre Jr. scored the go-ahead put-back layup with 8.7 seconds left. 

    Tyrese Maxey had 21 points and nine assists. Quentin Grimes posted 18 points. Andre Drummond tallied a 14-point, 13-rebound double-double.

    Jaylen Brown scored 24 points to lead the Celtics. Derrick White added 18.

    The Sixers were without Joel Embiid (right knee soreness), Paul George (left knee surgery recovery), Dominick Barlow (right elbow laceration) and Johni Broome (right ankle sprain). 

    Next up for the 7-4 Sixers is a trip to Detroit and a Friday night matchup with the Pistons. Here are observations on their victory over Boston:

    Early shooting woes

    The Sixers scored on their first three possessions and the Maxey-Trendon Watford duo continued to show off its chemistry. Maxey took a Watford handoff and canned an open three-pointer. Watford nailed an early catch-and-shoot jumper assisted by Maxey. 

    Though the Sixers soon hit a dry spell, their defense was very successful in the early going against both Brown and White. Each missed several clean looks. Brown started 1 for 7 from the floor and White opened 1 for 8, including a three he air-balled wide left. Payton Pritchard began 0 for 5, too. 

    The Sixers were not exactly on fire either and ended the first quarter up 23-22.

    VJ Edgecombe defended well but remained cold as a shooter, starting 0 for 5. Edgecombe finished 2 for 11. Over his last five games, the rookie has gone 17 of 61 (27.9 percent) from the floor.

    It was a real nail-biter for 76ers’ fans on Tuesday night, but they went home happy. NBC10’s Johnny Archer has the story. 

    Edwards a big bright spot off bench

    Jared McCain checked in late in the first quarter and shared the floor with fellow guards Edgecombe and Quentin Grimes.

    In his third game of the season, McCain still did not look close to the player he was his rookie season. He missed a mid-range jumper and couldn’t convert a leaner through contact. The 21-year-old was called for a charge when he tried to drive and kick the ball out to Edgecombe on the wing. 

    Overall, McCain again appeared to have trouble moving freely and trusting his instincts with the brace on his left knee. He had some shaky moments as a ball handler. Jordan Walsh poked the ball away from McCain a couple of times well behind the third-point line.

    McCain logged seven minutes and did not play in the second half. He’s 0 for 9 from the floor so far.

    Sixers head coach Nick Nurse used a five-man bench. Edwards was a big bright spot in the first half.

    The lefty wing had two long-range jumpers, an and-one layup, two assists and two offensive rebounds. When Maxey checked back in with 5:18 to go in the second quarter, the Sixers held a nine-point lead. Grimes polished off an and-one to make it 41-31. 

    Edwards kept rolling and truly caught fire in the fourth quarter (more on that below). He shot an incredible 8 for 9 from the field.

    Sixers overcome more 3rd-quarter struggles

    Boston managed a mere 41 points in the first half. The Celtics shot 28 percent from the field and 19 percent beyond the arc over the first two quarters. 

    Again, the fate of the game largely came down to whether the Sixers could be better than their early-season norm in the third quarter. Going into Tuesday night, the Sixers had an NBA-worst net rating of minus-36.3 in third periods

    They added another abysmal third quarter to the list vs. the Celtics.

    After a Drummond missed three, Neemias Queta jammed in a dunk. Brown sunk a turnaround jumper. Oubre turned the ball over and White made a triple that lifted the Celtics to a 54-53 lead.

    At that point, Maxey grew more aggressive, driving hard and drawing frequent contact. He drained a three to give the Sixers a 66-63 edge.

    The Celtics had a lot left in the tank. Brown scored six straight points and White made threes on Boston’s final two possessions of the third. Grimes rather miraculously cut the Sixers’ deficit to 77-71 by hitting a half-court shot at the third-quarter buzzer. That shot meant the Sixers lost the third by 16 points.

    After an Edwards steal and slam early in the fourth quarter, the Sixers trailed by three and Maxey subbed back in.

    Instead of Maxey, it was Edwards who pushed the Sixers back in front. He believed he could make everything and was correct.

    Edwards drained threes on three consecutive possessions to put the Sixers up 93-92.

    The game stayed tight down the stretch. Edgecombe appeared to have missed a three long, but he got a high, generous bounce through the hoop to build the Sixers’ lead to 100-96.

    They couldn’t extend that advantage. Maxey missed two tightly guarded shots in the paint. Brown got Oubre to bite on a pump fake and drew two free throws with 33.5 seconds left. He split them, knotting the game at 100-all.

    Maxey then probed the Celtics’ defense and found Edwards open on the perimeter. He finally missed, but Oubre was there to grab the rebound and score the go-ahead bucket.

    The Sixers disrupted the Celtics’ plans on their final play and White threw up a deep heave. Queta had a put-back chance just before the final buzzer, but he couldn’t convert and the Sixers celebrated a nervy win. 

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    Noah Levick

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  • Trendon Watford continues breakout by posting triple-double in first start as Sixers beat Raptors on debut throwback night

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    In need of their first momentum-shifting victory of the 2025-26 season, the Sixers whipped out their throwback black jerseys for the first time on Saturday night. Some good fortune came in tow.

    The Sixers defeated the Toronto Raptors on Saturday, 130-120, to improve to 6-3 on the season and avoid a three-game losing streak. While the stars were star-like – Tyrese Maxey managed 31 points to lead all scorers while Joel Embiid had the easiest 29 points of his season on 16 shots in 26 minutes – the story was Trendon Watford, who received his first start of the season and responded with a 20-17-10 line to mark the first triple-double by a Sixers player this season.

    With those three stellar showings, another strong performance from Kelly Oubre Jr. and helpful efforts from VJ Edgecombe and Quentin Grimes, the Sixers had enough to overcome their disastrous defensive start, take control of the game and eventually land the knockout blow in the fourth quarter.

    Everything that stood out from a night that most will remember for the jerseys, the court and the return of an old friend:

    Trendon Watford keeps on getting better

    As if a three-game stretch averaging 13.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 5.0 assists off the bench was not enough of a statement for Watford, the soon-to-be 25-year-old had the best game of his NBA career on Saturday in his first start as a member of the Sixers.

    Inserted into the starting five ahead of Jabari Walker, Watford had his fingerprints all over this game from the start. He followed up a surprisingly strong scoring performance on Wednesday night in Cleveland with an even better one on Saturday; 11 of his 20 points came in the opening frame. Watford knocked down an early triple once again. He is shooting accurately and confidently from beyond the arc, and even on low volume that will be a major help.

    “I’ve been putting in work all summer, all year on it,” Watford said after the Sixers held a practice on Friday morning. “…Obviously being able to do a lot of things on the court, I think that me shooting the ball at a high level can play to my advantage a lot. But I’ve got all the confidence in my shot, all the confidence in my game.”

    But even at 6-foot-9, everyone has learned that with Watford it is the passing and playmaking to really watch out for. He collected a career-high 10 assists; a staggering six of them went to his close friend Maxey. The two of them predictably have already put together some stellar two-man work:

    After a hamstring injury forced Watford to miss training camp and preseason, Watford has found a way to seamlessly fit into his new team’s offense despite a lack of familiarity and an unconventional style.

    Watford looks like a significant weapon moving forward, especially enticing on top of the Sixers’ terrific group of young guards. On Saturday, what was just as notable as Watford’s scoring and facilitating was another career-high: 17 rebounds, rounding out the first triple-double of his NBA career.

    Watford is generally not considered a particularly strong rebounder for a player of his size, but he certainly is one for a player with his level of ball skills. And time and time again, as he snares a defensive rebound and leads his team into transition offense, the value of having a jumbo-sized ball-handler is on display.

    The Sixers might have a new backup center

    It certainly feels like Andre Drummond has officially taken the Sixers’ primary backup center job from Adem Bona. Drummond has just been better early on in 2025-26; the veteran’s rebounding has been a stabilizing force for a team struggling to string together stops. On Friday, Sixers head coach Nick Nurse more or less acknowledged that things could be headed in this direction.

    “Yeah, I think so,” Nurse said. “…I think it’s always something we’re looking at. More than anything, I’m trying to put the guys on the floor than can best help us, period. If that moves around a little bit, it moves around, and it’ll probably move around again and all that kind of stuff. Ride the guys who are playing well, ride the better matchups.”

    Exhibit A: Saturday’s game. Bona checked in for Embiid halfway through the first quarter and the Sixers allowed Toronto to score 28 points in six minutes. Trailing 43-33 after one quarter, Nurse decided that once Embiid needed more rest it would become Drummond’s game. Drummond paid it off by going +8 in 18 minutes the rest of the way while Bona sat for the remainder of the action.

    Given Embiid’s constant availability issues, Drummond and Bona are both crucial pieces to this puzzle. And if Bona is demoted to the third-string center spot, it will still be the most important third-string center spot in the NBA. Embiid will sit on Sunday night against the Detroit Pistons, and Bona very well may start. But it is hard to imagine that Drummond has not clearly separated himself from the player he has taken under his wing.

    The Sixers have been better with Drummond manning the middle than Bona. It is not an inherent statement about their individual abilities; it is clear that Bona can hang in plenty of matchups in which Drummond’s lack of mobility makes him unplayable. But when Nurse has a chance to roll with his bruising big off the bench, for now that looks like the plan.

    Odds and ends

    Some additional notes:

    • Jared McCain was listed as available for the Sixers on Saturday, but ended up not playing. The guess here: Nurse planned on using McCain at the start of the second quarter, but after his team opened the game with a horrid defensive frame he opted to keep McCain on the bench in hopes of turning things around defensively and saving the 21-year-old guard for the second leg of this weekend’s back-to-back.

    • Drummond’s quality minutes were especially important because with McCain not in the mix, the Sixers were awfully thin. Drummond (16 minutes) and Grimes (28 minutes) were Nurse’s only reserves to reach double-digit minute totals. Justin Edwards played seven minutes and Jabari Walker logged five minutes in addition to Bona only playing eight minutes. That forced Maxey into a 43-minute night, with Watford, Edgecombe and Oubre all surpassing 36 minutes.

    • Edgecombe did not have a good scoring night; he is in a bit of a slump on that front. Edgecombe only made five of his 15 shot attempts in this game, but once again found other ways to leave his mark. Edgecombe grabbed seven rebounds, dished out four assists and nabbed three steals. Plus, he helped put the game away by finally finding some scoring juice and getting three consecutive buckets down the stretch.

    • Embiid’s scoring outburst felt casual in a familiar way. To be fair, perhaps Embiid should be expected to have a relatively easy time against a team like this one: Toronto started wing Scottie Barnes at center; their only true big in the rotation was Sandro Mamukelashvili, who logged 17 minutes off the bench. Embiid made the most of his size advantage on many occasions.

    Up next: The Sixers will get right back to work on Sunday against the Detroit Pistons – once again wearing their throwback jerseys. Embiid will be out of action, but McCain should be available.

    Follow Adam on Twitter: @SixersAdam
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    Adam Aaronson

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  • Instant observations: Sixers fall to Cavaliers, lose both legs of second back-to-back

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    As they stepped onto a throwback court in Cleveland on Wednesday night, the Sixers were a team not even 24 hours removed from beginning a game in Chicago that had been fast-paced, physical, grueling and heartbreaking. There were signs of fatigue in Chicago, where all of the Sixers’ best players had either played significant minutes against the Bulls or already been ruled out for Wednesday’s game against the Cavaliers.

    All of that was immediately evident on Wednesday night. With an energized arena behind the Cavaliers and star guard Darius Garland in his season debut, the Sixers blinked and found themselves trailing 17-4. It immediately seemed clear that it would be one of those nights.

    The Sixers, to their credit, refused to let go of the rope. They made some spirited pushes, particularly during a strong two-way effort in the second quarter. But by the time the final buzzer sounded with the Sixers on the wrong side of a 132-121 final score – and an explosion from Cavaliers superstar guard Donovan Mitchell – it was clear that chances to rest Thursday and Friday will be very helpful for an undermanned group with another back-to-back on the docket over the weekend.

    Notes and observations from Wednesday’s action in Cleveland:

    Sixers show some fight in loss

    Nobody would have been remotely caught off guard if the Sixers let Cleveland’s three-point barrage in the opening frame cause them to throw in the towel early and begin thinking about their flight home. But they really hung in there, and after being on the wrong side of a 41-27 deficit in the first quarter outscored the Cavaliers 40-29 in the second quarter. They had tied the game by the 10-minute mark of the third quarter, when Kelly Oubre Jr. knocked down a corner three right in front of Cleveland’s bench and blew several Cavaliers a kiss:

    That second quarter represented the best basketball the Sixers played on Wednesday by far, and it was a collaborative effort. Tyrese Maxey had his least impactful first quarter in recent memory, but then exploded in the final minutes of the half. His underwhelming half, in just a few moments, turned into an 18-point, four-assist, three-rebound line on excellent efficiency. Maxey continues to play tremendous basketball, but it was his close friend Trendon Watford who got the Sixers’ comeback effort started.

    Watford gave the Sixers a stellar jolt of offense in the first half, scoring 13 points on six shots. Watford’s ability to grab a rebound and immediately initiate offense – oftentimes in transition – has been a boon for the Sixers, who have been able to quickly integrate the 6-foot-9 point forward despite him missing all of training camp and preseason with a hamstring injury.

    Meanwhile, Andre Drummond fully surpassed Adem Bona on the center depth chart for at least one night. Bona had a brutal first stint on the floor to begin the game as the Sixers’ starting five, and it was Drummond on the floor during their strongest pushes. Drummond was one rebound away from recording a double-double off the bench in one half of play; he has reverted back to his previous historic rebounding numbers early on this year after merely being very good on that front last season. Best of all for Drummond, the veteran center knocked down a corner triple in the third quarter, minutes after Bona missed one.

    Things fell off the rails early in the third quarter for the Sixers; Oubre’s game-tying shot turned out to be somewhat of a last gasp. But the Sixers at least showed a level of resilience and determination that eluded them on many occasions last year, including in a 27-point blowout in Cleveland in December.

    Can Justin Edwards finally get settled in?

    Even with Paul George still sidelined by a knee injury, Edwards played himself out of the Sixers’ regular rotation with a brutal preseason after a disappointing Summer League. Edwards looked like such a stable wing presence as a rookie, a player capable of fitting into any lineup and one whose ability to impact winning was not reliant on having the ball. He was able to frequently manufacture chances to make positive plays.

    In 2025-26, that ability has nearly been entirely nonexistent. Edwards has received sporadic rotation chances, not just because Sixers head coach Nick Nurse is a big fan but because the Sixers have never been fully healthy in the frontcourt even without considering George’s absence. Far too often Edwards has just been out there, fading into the background without being noticeable in any way. Even if he is more well-rounded than someone like Trendon Watford or Jabari Walker, those players have clear traits they can hang their hats on; Edwards is still searching for a signature skill.

    Perhaps Wednesday can be a launching point for Edwards, who looked like his 2024-25 self early on in Cleveland. Edwards’ night was not perfect – he was defending Mitchell, who was able to draw three fouls on the 21-year-old. But Edwards crashed the glass and grabbed a timely offensive rebound to eventually net the Sixers an extra basket. Then he hit a spot-up three off a drive and kick from Maxey. Moments later, Edwards had Mitchell defending him and faked a cut so convincingly that Mitchell fell to the floor, creating an advantage for the Sixers. The ball ended up swinging to Edwards in the corner and he cashed another three.

    Such a stretch would have been commonplace last season, but it represented one of his finest moments of 2025-26 to date despite his fouling issues. Will this be a night Edwards can build on, or just a short-lived outlier?

    Odds and ends

    Some additional notes:

    • With an early triple, Oubre reached 1,000 made three-pointers in his NBA career:

    • Jabari Walker remained in his role as a low-minute starter in this one, opening each half at power forward. Walker appeared to hurt his back on a collision and ensuing fall early in the third quarter, but ended up returning for the final minute and change. Dominick Barlow, the Sixers’ other NBA-ready two-way forward, has missed six-plus games due to an elbow laceration.

    • This game was clearly over late in the third quarter, but Maxey and Oubre both played the entirety of the fourth quarter. Nurse is a proponent of riding his best players for as many minutes as possible, and in games that are close that will often swing contests in his team’s favor. But it is harder to do that successfully without being able to identify the right times to pull the plug. An opportunity to save his guys some minutes was staring Nurse in the face on Wednesday and he failed to take it.

    Up next: The Sixers will return home with a pair of days off before beginning another back-to-back. They will host the Toronto Raptors on Saturday while wearing their black throwback jerseys before welcoming the Detroit Pistons to town on Sunday.

    Follow Adam on Twitter: @SixersAdam
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    Adam Aaronson

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  • A History Making Backcourt. – Philadelphia Sports Nation

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    •••

    Photo Courtesy of Sixers Nation on X.

    If the Sixers needed some help for the start of the 2025–2026 until Paul George and Joel Embiid could return healthy — they got it. The NBA has never tracked a backcourt scoring this many points in the first three games as Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe for the (5–1) 76ers since the stat has been tracked going all the way back to 1970–1971. The two combined for an incredible one hundred and eighty-six points in the team’s first three games.

    Over the past several years — the Sixers have been looking for the perfect compliment to Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. And while a full season of Paul George may help to position Philadelphia for success — time will only tell.

    For the present — another key piece for Sixers has just emerged.

    Last week’s opening night against the Boston Celtics was a gem of a game for the Sixers top April Draft Selection. VJ Edgecombe stunned a crowd at TD Garden in Boston — dropping thirty-four points in forty-two minutes. His point total ranks third most points among any rookie in their first NBA Game behind Wilt (Chamberlain) in 1959 and Frank Selvy in 1954.

    The 76ers made history by drafting just the tenth Player to play in the NBA from the Bahamas in Baylor star player and Guard VJ Edgecombe. Edgecombe joins Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid, and Paul George in an attempt to bring the Sixers back to playoff relevance.

    If the Sixers had been concerned about selecting a player who didn’t want to play in Philadelphia, all of those concerns would soon melt away with Edgecombe. Just moments after joining NBA Commissioner Adam Silver on stage — a humbled VJ Edgecombe and his family — overcome with emotion — delivered a humbled message of excitement about coming to Philadelphia.

    We are excited, too.

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    Michael Thomas Leibrandt

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  • Instant observations: Kelly Oubre Jr.’s early explosion, more stellar guard play nets Sixers an easy victory in Brooklyn

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    NEW YORK – Sixers fans made most of the noise at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Sunday evening, and their team gave them good reason with a 129-105 pummeling of the lowly Nets.

    With Joel Embiid, Paul George, Jared McCain and Dominick Barlow sidelined, the Sixers sleepwalked through one decent quarter before taking complete control, wasting little time winning a game that did not deserve to cause anyone much stress.

    With most of his teammates lagging behind early, Kelly Oubre Jr. completely dominated the opening frame, and then the rest of the bunch came along. Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe got loose, Quentin Grimes had his best playmaking game of the season and Trendon Watford had the most impressive performance of his young Sixers tenure. It all coalesced into a satisfactory win for a Sixers team that is now 5-1.

    Takeaways from the action in Brooklyn: 

    Kelly Oubre Jr. erupts early

    Many members of the Sixers started out a bit slow on Sunday evening. It is safe to say that Oubre was not one of them. The veteran wingman exploded in the first quarter, torching the Nets to the tune of 22 points on only 12 shots. Oubre made all seven of his shot attempts inside the arc; he connected from long range twice with three misses (one of which was an end-of-quarter heave of sorts).

    Hoping to control the Sixers’ lethal backcourt of Maxey and Edgecombe, the Nets were willing to let Oubre cook, and the 29-year-old obliged. Oubre opened the game being defended by Nets guard Cam Thomas, regarded as one of the least impactful defensive players in the NBA. He did not even have to directly attack Thomas to score; Oubre scored the bulk of his early points either in the natural flow of the Sixers’ offense or in transition. In the final minutes of the frame, Oubre’s teammates started making a concerted effort to get him the ball, and he paid it off:

    For nearly a decade, the Sixers have had star-laden rosters that generate game-long mismatches for role players. But the organization has generally surrounded its stars with supporting pieces specializing in off-ball offense, and so opposing defenses have been able to get away with hiding weak links on those players despite size disadvantages. Oubre is not a traditional role player on offense, and that does have some drawbacks.

    But Oubre, for better or worse, always has a score-first mentality. One of the benefits of that is he will be eager to punish those mismatches and play weak defenders off the floor. Oubre has enjoyed tremendous success to begin his third season with the Sixers.

    Tyrese Maxey’s casual brilliance

    It is impossible to say enough about the basketball Maxey is playing to begin his sixth NBA season. The ease with which he is reaching strong box-score lines night in and night out is something to marvel at. Even on a night like Sunday, when the Sixers finally did not need Maxey to provide a herculean effort, he was the stabilizing force for much of the game.

    Maxey was already a star-caliber offensive player, but in 2025-26 he looks like someone who has made a substantial leap in just about every facet of his game on that end of the floor.

    Maxey’s playmaking and facilitating have improved quite a bit, and he has made tremendous use of a supporting cast that is a whole lot better than it was around this time last year. He has empowered players like Edgecombe and Grimes to be assertive when the ball swings their way and has also created extra scoring chances for bigs.

    Meanwhile, Maxey remains a dynamic three-level scoring threat, and no player in the entire NBA can match Maxey’s combination of speed and pull-up shooting. There are a few faster players, but none of them can shoot as well as Maxey; there are some better shooters, but none of them are as fast as Maxey. It is truly a one-of-a-kind blend of abilities.

    Maxey’s most significant gains might have come in terms of his foul-drawing skills, which head coach Nick Nurse said on Friday adds “variety” to his scoring. It also provides a tremendous floor in terms of baseline offensive production: even the greatest scorers will have games where they struggle to knock down shots, but the ones adept at generating whistles can always rely on trips to the line for easy points.

    Odds and ends

    Some additional notes:

    • Nurse indicated before Sunday’s game that a formal update on Barlow (elbow) would come shortly. The two-way power forward has not played since halftime of the second game of the season after suffering an elbow laceration which required a procedure. Nurse said it is “nothing super serious,” but acknowledged that the injury is something “maybe more difficult than we thought.”

    • Hours before his third appearance as a member of the Sixers, Watford received praise from his last head coach during his time with the Brooklyn Nets.

    “He could post up, he could bring the ball [up], he could shoot the ball, he could pass, bigger body, he could guard multiple positions,” Nets head coach Jordi Fernández said. “He’s an overall player.”

    Watford’s first doses of action with the Sixers have been hit or miss; he has at times looked the part of a player whose training camp and preseason were lost to a hamstring injury. But the vision for Watford’s fit as a 6-foot-9 ball-handler is clear. It will take time, but there is upside, and it was on display at times during Sunday’s game. Watford was particularly good during the second quarter, with his pass-first mentality paying dividends.

    • Nurse went with an eight-man regular rotation in this game, and that meant both Justin Edwards and Eric Gordon were out of the mix despite the team’s absences. Edwards has struggled enormously of late, and it is becoming more difficult to justify playing him. He ended up playing in the fourth quarter of this game because Oubre turned his ankle and needed a brief trip to the locker room. But it is hard to imagine Edwards’ playing time being bolstered at any point in the near future, as George is getting closer to making a return and should eat up a significant number of wing minutes.

    Up next: The Sixers’ road trip will continue with a back-to-back, as they will face the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday night with a matchup against the Cleveland Cavaliers the following evening.

    Follow Adam on Twitter: @SixersAdam
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    Adam Aaronson

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  • Instant observations: Sixers mount another comeback but drop NBA Cup opener to Celtics

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    PHILADELPHIA – Maybe 82-0 was just a bit unrealistic.

    For the first time in 2025-26, the Sixers lost on Friday night, dropping the opener of their NBA Cup Group Play slate, 109-108, to the Boston Celtics. They fell to 4-1. 

    The Sixers attempted to stage yet another remarkable comeback, and they did completely erase a 24-point deficit at one point. But on Friday, their defense was not good enough to win without out-of-this-world offensive production, and they did not have another scoring masterclass in them. They fought until the very end – again – but this time, they did not have enough. They never led despite bringing themselves to one shot away from stealing it at the end.

    Takeaways from Friday night’s action:

    Sixers’ significant defensive struggles continue

    There is no way around it: the Sixers have fielded a competitive NBA-caliber defense in just a small number of quarters out of the 20 they have played in this season. For the most part, opposing offenses of varying calibers have been able to accomplish everything they want against this team. Boston initiated a three-point shooting barrage early in the game that might have taken place no matter how the Sixers defended, but on Friday night the Sixers’ lack of defensive aptitude in the first half sunk them. Boston scored 68 points in the first half, and the Sixers turned out to have dug themselves too deep of a hole. It was a continuation of everything they had already put on tape.

    Even after they improved to 4-0, it was clear that the Sixers were not doing enough guarding to keep winning at this pace. To some degree, it is a testament to how incredible their offense has been that the Sixers were even competitive in four consecutive games.

    “We’ve got some challenges, there’s no doubt about it,” Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said after the team’s practice on Thursday. “We’re trying to play to our strengths and cover up some of the challenges as best we can. I think there’s going to be a lot of room for improvement… We’re still learning about it. The games really help speed that learning process up. So there’s lots of tweaks, lots of polish, schematically, there’s lots of things we’re seeing we need to add and subtract as we go.”

    Among those key challenges is the team’s tendency to rely on undersized lineups. Three of the five best players on this team right now are guards; at full strength it will be four of the six best players who are suited for backcourt roles. And to be fair, three-guard lineups with Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe and Quentin Grimes were outstanding in the team’s first four contests because there is so much offensive firepower within those units. But a balance is going to have to be struck, because scoring a lot of points does not mean all that much without getting stops.

    Of course, the eventual return of Paul George will help here, particularly as the Sixers look for infusions of size without disrupting their floor spacing. If the nine-time All-Star is willing to cede much of his responsibility as a scorer and ball-handler to the aforementioned guards (plus Jared McCain) and buy into a defensive-oriented mindset, he could be enormously valuable to this group, even if it restricts his ability to make a salary exceeding $50 million look all that wise.

    But ultimately, the Sixers have to maximize their talent level, and that is going to lead to a lot of smaller lineups. It is up to the players and coaches to find ways to make it a manageable fit on that end of the floor, because otherwise their tremendous offensive exploits will not be maximized.

    VJ Edgecombe finding so many ways to impact winning

    What is even more impressive than Edgecombe’s outstanding scoring production through five NBA games is how many ways he has proved capable of helping the Sixers outside of putting the ball in the basket. Edgecombe’s on-ball prowess has been such a revelation that perhaps many have forgotten that he came into the NBA expected to immediately help a team in other facets of the game. That has held true.

    Edgecombe’s passing is far more advanced than anticipated, and his absurd athletic capabilities have enabled him to soar in for critical rebounds time and time again. His rebounding numbers look good and still likely do not tell the full story; so many of his boards have been contested and in important moments. Edgecombe has been reliable as a spot-up three-point shooter, and his transition scoring has been tantalizing; this finish was a favorite of Friday’s crowd:

    He is an engaged, energetic defender and Nurse has had no qualms about putting him on some very good offensive players and asking him to turn the water off. Edgecombe turned in plenty of good defensive possessions on Friday night against each member of Boston’s excellent guard trio of Derrick White, Payton Pritchard and Anfernee Simons.

    While it was jaw-dropping to watch Edgecombe dominate the ball and prove he has earned the right to do so early on, it is just as impressive for a 20-year-old rookie to immediately pivot to an off-ball role and show they have so many different pathways to impacting any given possession on either end of the floor.

    Odds and ends

    Some additional notes:

    • Jared McCain (thumb) was one of three Sixers sidelined in this game – George and Dominick Barlow were the others – but the 21-year-old guard continues to make strides in his recovery after his surgery about a month ago. The latest indication of progress: McCain went through an intense pregame warmup routine on Friday.

    • After 20 horrid minutes to begin this game – the Sixers’ offense was merely okay and their defense was dreadful – Edgecombe, Kelly Oubre Jr. and Andre Drummond provided some life. Edgecombe knocked down a triple and finished an acrobatic and-one layup in transition, Oubre converted multiple impressive rim finishes and Drummond knocked down a corner three, and a terrific four-minute burst to close the half enabled the Sixers to shrink the lead to 11 points at intermission. That run provided what was far and away the most excitement in the building during the first half.

    • It very much feels like Nurse’s plan at backup center when Embiid plays is to ride the hot hand. On basically any occasion in which Drummond or Adem Bona has started producing, Nurse has just opted to ride them for a while. Nurse has talked before about empowering his situational pieces when he can find the right spot for them to play for a prolonged stretch. It is part of the give and take that comes with players in roles that might limit their playing time.

    Up next: The Sixers will be back in action on the road on Sunday evening when they take on the lowly Brooklyn Nets.

    Follow Adam on Twitter: @SixersAdam
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    Adam Aaronson

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  • Instant observations: Sixers overcome dreadful defense and stage their greatest comeback yet to improve to 4-0

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    For six months, very few people would even entertain the prospect of the 2025-26 Sixers season being encouraging, enjoyable or successful. And yet the 2025-26 Philadelphia 76ers have found a way to win once again. They are 4-0.

    After three victories to begin the season ranging from thrilling to chaotic, the Sixers dug themselves a hole against a lowly Washington Wizards team but once again staged a double-digit turnaround, notching a 139-134 overtime victory on the road.

    Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid were brilliant right away, but their early barrage of baskets was met by a greater one from the Wizards. The Sixers had a strong offensive night behind Embiid’s best scoring performance of the season, but for much of the game their defense was so putrid that it did not matter. Then the comeback crew did it again, erasing what was a 13-point deficit inside of the five-minute mark of the final frame as Maxey got hot down the stretch again while Quentin Grimes posted an outstanding stretch of two-way play. Adem Bona closed the game with Embiid at his minutes limit and blocked shot after shot. The Sixers found a way to force overtime, found themselves on the wrong end of a five-point deficit right when it started and still had enough to mount another comeback and emerge victorious, with Bona’s shot-blocking and offensive rebounding taking center stage.

    This team just keeps one-upping itself. Takeaways from, amazingly, another winning night of Sixers basketball:

    Sixers’ horrid defense creates a hole, then Quentin Grimes and Adem Bona lead the final comeback

    Even during their wildly successful three-game stretch to begin the season, the Sixers did not defend well enough. They are undersized right now, and to some degree that will remain the case, but it is also not an excuse to struggle as much as they had been struggling. It is perhaps now the most important area where nine-time All-Star Paul George will help them.

    Embiid has been one of the best defenders in the NBA for several years, but at this juncture he is a burden on that end of the floor as he manages every movement closely. It is easier to understand the Sixers’ struggles on defense when he is in the game just because his mobility is so limited. When he is off the floor, they have been unable to contain drivers and it puts undue stress on whichever player is filling in as a rim protector.

    Many things can be pointed out here – that Washington made a ton of difficult shots; that the Wizards have so much youth and energy; that the Sixers were on the second leg of their first back-to-back of the year; that head coach Nick Nurse’s team was simply due for a rough night – but again, these defensive issues were not exclusive to Tuesday’s action. They just became so egregious that no talent advantage or individual scoring heaters could make up for their lack of cohesion.

    It was not for a lack of trying offensively. Embiid was outstanding in tandem with Maxey; the two cornerstones of this team went all-in on embracing their lethal two-man work early and often in this one. It took away from VJ Edgecombe, Quentin Grimes and others’ chances to get shots up, but it was hard to argue with this:

    Offense was never the Sixers’ problem in this game; they played more than well enough to win on that end of the floor. Embiid posting season-highs in points (25) and minutes (23) was an important benchmark. But Sixers’ defense went from very bad to dreadful in this one. It will have to be addressed moving forward, because even in their victories the Sixers were not doing nearly enough to provide resistance toward opposing offenses. It places too large of an offensive burden on the team’s stars.

    Finally, down the stretch the Sixers started playing decent defense, with Bona’s five blocks at the center of it all. He also had the go-ahead basket, a jam off an offensive rebound:

    Bona provided jaw-dropping plays time and time again, with Grimes serving as the perfect two-way role player in the clutch. The Sixers’ marvelous offensive attack suddenly had a chance to lead the way, and it did just that. Maxey ended up with an enormous 39-point performance, but the value Grimes and Bona gave in the biggest minutes of this game cannot possibly be overstated.

    Trendon Watford makes his Sixers debut

    After missing all of training camp and the preseason, the Sixers finally got a look at their lone external addition to the team’s standard roster via free agency over the summer. Watford, the 6-foot-9 point forward with a unique set of skills, was available in a limited role off the bench after being sidelined for the team’s first three games in the regular season.

    Watford kicked off his Sixers career by bullying Wizards rookie Tre Johnson en route to an easy left-handed jump hook:

    The 24-year-old forward’s minutes were largely encouraging, particularly given his unusual style. Watford is not exactly an easy player to drop into a preexisting rotation; he does a lot of things that most players at his size are never asked to do when it comes to ball-handling. His first stint lasted about eight minutes, which was a pleasant surprise in itself.

    Watford moved a lot better than one would expect for a player who was returning from such a longstanding hamstring ailment, and even without a jaw-dropping box score line his overall utility on this roster was evident right away. Watford made plenty of nifty passes, and his very first possession with Embiid was a picture-perfect pick-and-pop resulting in an Embiid triple. The Sixers were looking for him as soon as they grabbed defensive rebounds so he could initiate transition offense.

    For Watford’s fit to not look particularly shaky right away is a major win for the Sixers, and it bodes well for his ability to carve out a niche within this offense moving forward.

    Odds and ends

    Some additional notes:

    • Nurse made a change to his starting lineup with Dominick Barlow (elbow) still sidelined. Instead of starting Jabari Walker at power forward, Nurse plugged in Justin Edwards as a small-ball four. Washington started two small guards, two wings and one big, so Nurse did not feel compelled to be as big against one of the tinier starting units in the NBA. Of course, the other change was Embiid starting over Bona.

    • Jabari Walker’s best stint as a member of the Sixers came in the first half on Tuesday; he scored eight points and grabbed three rebounds (two offensive) in a six-minute burst while also nabbing a steal. But he was not part of the rotation in the second half. Walker has some competition for frontcourt minutes moving forward; Watford has joined a mix that will once again include Barlow soon. George’s eventual return looms large as well.

    • This was Edgecombe’s quietest NBA game yet from an offensive perspective, yet the rookie still managed to convert two separate four-point plays. He really is fearless:

    Edgecombe handled the ball much less than usual, but was just as ambitious as a spot-up three-point shooter and had plenty of success, knocking down four triples. Clearly, the Sixers needed each one of them.

    Up next: The Sixers will have two days off before returning to action at home, where they will play host to the Boston Celtics in the opening game of NBA Cup Group Play.

    Follow Adam on Twitter: @SixersAdam
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    Adam Aaronson

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  • Instant observations: Finally, Sixers look like they have an identity without Joel Embiid – and a 3-0 record to show for it

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    PHILADELPHIA – For the first time in 2025-26, the Joel Embiid-less Sixers took the floor on Monday night, looking to upend the Orlando Magic without their franchise cornerstone. On the front end of a back-to-back, the Sixers opted to sit Embiid, while also missing starting power forward Dominick Barlow. They still felt they had enough to win.

    In terms of manpower, the Sixers were at a clear disadvantage against a very good Orlando team. But for the first time in Embiid’s career, when he sits the Sixers look like more than capable of maximizing their available personnel. So, the Sixers were right. They had enough. It is the complete opposite of how things have always been here, and it was on full display in a 136-124 win on Monday.

    Once again, No. 3 overall pick VJ Edgecombe dominated in the opening frame, and his scoring was the headliner early on. Edgecombe and Quentin Grimes’ hot starts made up for a poor opening frame from Tyrese Maxey, but the sixth-year star guard erupted as soon as the second quarter began and was on a tear for the remainder of the game, flashing signs of superstardom as a scorer and facilitator. Maxey and Edgecombe combined to score 69 points, and filling in many of the gaps for a depleted frontcourt was Kelly Oubre Jr., whose all-around production was a total godsend. The Sixers held a healthy lead for much of the game and got a remarkable closing effort from Maxey in his second 40-plus-point night of the season. It was their first true wire-to-wire victory over the season.

    The Sixers, unbelievably, are 3-0. Observations from a wildly successful night of basketball in South Philadelphia:

    The Sixers finally look like they have an identity without Joel Embiid

    For the entirety of Embiid’s career, the Sixers have outperformed their talent level when he is on the floor and drastically underperformed it when he was not, whether that meant Embiid was resting during a game or sidelined for all 48 minutes. In the first three games of this season, the non-Embiid Sixers – both during his 28 minutes of rest in the opening two games and Monday’s complete contest – have displayed an ability to be more than the sum of their parts. Save for successful management of Embiid’s left knee, there is perhaps no greater revelation that the organization could experience.

    The Sixers have had more than enough talent to stay afloat without Embiid in the past, from stars like James Harden, Jimmy Butler and Ben Simmons to players paid as stars like Tobias Harris. But each iteration of the Embiid-led Sixers has talked a big game about not needing Embiid to carry the load, and failed to prove that it was actually true.

    At its core, the issue was a lack of identity. The Sixers knew they could not throw the ball to Embiid in the post or at the nail, and they knew they could not anchor their defense. But they were constantly grasping at straws looking for alternatives. It was not Simmons and shooters; not even Harden and a rim-running center could truly stabilize the non-Embiid minutes.

    Now, there is a clear focus and identity here, and it revolves around pace. The Sixers have tremendous guard play, and they have devised a scheme that brings out all of the best qualities in players like Maxey, Edgecombe and Grimes. The team has been adamant since the offseason began than with the way NBA basketball is trending, having as many ball-handlers on the floor as possible is optimal. It is more than a theory; the Sixers’ optionality in terms of offensive initiation has given them an enormous amount of leverage.

    It is not just that the Sixers have guards out there. Last year Nurse used many three-guard lineups; the guards were not good so the units were also not good. But Nurse has clearly found something in terms of maximizing a roster that lacks balance. When they reach full health, four of the six best players on this team will be guards. Even with Jared McCain on the shelf due to a torn UCL in his right thumb, this guard rotation is humming, and it is hard to imagine a collective backcourt playing better team basketball.

    The best version of the Sixers will always include Embiid, as Nurse himself stated before Monday’s game. But for them to know who they are and what they are about when he is not on the floor is absolutely paramount. The Sixers, finally, seem to have a brand of basketball they can rely on when the going gets tough.

    Odds and ends

    Some additional notes:

    • Nurse said before Monday’s game that McCain, who was seen at the team’s morning shootaround with a much smaller brace on his right hand, is on his second day without the more restrictive cast, which means he is allowed to shoot normally now. McCain still has to be reintroduced to contact work, with many other steps still to come before his return to NBA action, but he is making progress. A more official update will likely be provided by the team in the next week or so. 

    • Nurse also said pregame that Bona needed to provide more rim protection and shot-blocking in an expanded role than he had during limited minutes behind Embiid in the first two games of his sophomore NBA campaign. Bona responded with two emphatic rejections in the first quarter, sandwiching one from Oubre. Bona’s first swat created a transition opportunity for Edgecombe. It was a promising sign and created a whole lot of buzz in the building:

    However, minutes later Bona picked up his second personal foul and had to check out of the game. It is the dichotomy of a player whose motor and risk-taking are hallmarks of his game, but has to find the right ways to maintain composure.

    • Nurse went with an eight-man rotation for much of the first half, then inserted veteran Eric Gordon, not a huge surprise. But seconds later, undrafted rookie two-way guard Hunter Sallis checked in, and that was a bit of a stunner. Sallis played less than a minute, checked out and then returned for a 33-second stint.

    • Oubre had a very good game on Saturday night against Charlotte. But he was on another level on Monday, and his early-season contributions should not go unnoticed. Oubre is shooting the three-pointer well right now, and if teams continue to respect him as a threat from beyond the arc he will only become a stronger driver. Oubre has never been much of a passer, but made some intriguing strides as a playmaker last season. He totaled four assists in the first half alone on Monday while also making himself a force on the glass. It was huge in a game in which he had to play small-ball power forward quite a bit out of necessity.

    Up next: The Sixers will be back in action on Tuesday in the nation’s capital, facing off against the young, 1-2 Washington Wizards. 

    Follow Adam on Twitter: @SixersAdam
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    Adam Aaronson

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  • Instant observations: Joel Embiid finds force as Sixers escape with win over Hornets in home opener

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    PHILADELPHIA – On the heels of Sixers rookie VJ Edgecombe scoring 34 points in an electric NBA debut in Boston on Wednesday night, there was some extra juice at Xfinity Mobile Arena as the Sixers played host to the Charlotte Hornets in their 2025-26 home opener.

    After a brutal season debut, Joel Embiid looked substantially better against Charlotte and its makeshift center rotation, playing with considerably better energy and finding ways to consistently leave his mark on the action. He was aided by more tremendous guard play – Tyrese Maxey remained red-hot from three-point range and Quentin Grimes engaged in a heater of his own, while Edgecombe did a stellar job of filling in the gaps – but the Sixers’ lackluster defense and inability to find quality minutes from role players at both forward spots allowed a young Hornets team to remain in the game.

    Those defensive issues only got worse in the third quarter, as a 38-25 frame in Charlotte’s favor put the Sixers in a 10-point hole entering the final frame. The Sixers quickly made a push, but every time it felt as if they were closing in on mounting a comeback the Hornets responded with a timely basket. Finally, the major run came, and it was sparked by Andre Drummond of all people, whose rebounding and interior scoring made a massive difference. The Sixers and Hornets found themselves on a seesaw in the final minutes of the game, but Grimes – the Sixers’ best all-around player in this game – gave them the lead with a three. One stop later, the Sixers were 2-0.

    Everything that stood out from a 125-121 Sixers win that, while encouraging in some respects, probably could have been easier:

    Joel Embiid’s different demeanor, and perhaps a new focus

    Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said before the game that Embiid’s minutes restriction and plan would be “similar” to the one used in Boston, but the former NBA MVP’s early aggression was a whole lot different this time around. For the entirety of Embiid’s 20 minutes on opening night, he almost appeared shellshocked by the speed of the game and his inability to keep up. At first he was somewhat of an offensive decoy, but eventually even that title would have been a stretch.

    On the Sixers’ very first possession of Wednesday’s game, Dominick Barlow rebounded an Edgecombe miss and the ball swung to Embiid, who confidently stepped into a triple and knocked it down:

    Nobody has advocated for Embiid to notch his three-point volume up more than Nurse, and perhaps it is becoming more of a focus. Embiid quickly connected on another triple, then knocked one down from the top of the key early in the second quarter. He is a tremendous shooter for his size, and more reliance on perimeter shooting could help Embiid preserve his energy and avoid taking as many hits. It is also a hedge against Embiid’s limited mobility; he does not have to move all that well to get three-point shots up.

    “Just the simple fact that he’s such a good three-point shooter,” Nurse said after the game. “You want the guy that’s that good a shooter to get some volume attempts.”

    But, to be clear, Embiid was moving a whole lot better on Saturday than he did on Wednesday. It felt as if instead of trying to let the game come to him and instead watching it fly by, he was ensuring he had avenues to assert control over the action from the start. Embiid has often struggled to set the tone early in games in recent years, but many of his best performances have come after strong starts.

    Embiid’s stint in the second quarter included a scary fall, but Embiid got up relatively quickly and appeared unscathed. Now that he had asserted himself as a scoring threat, he become a much more successful playmaker. He helped Quentin Grimes drill back-to-back triples; the first came on a two-man action and the second was an and-one spot-up jumper generated by Embiid playing with legitimate force inside:

    Embiid played 15 minutes in the first half, which immediately indicated that either Nurse was not being entirely truthful about how many minutes his center could play or that the Sixers had decided to use more of Embiid’s minutes early in the game. It turned out to be the latter, as Embiid’s five-minute stint to open the third quarter ended up being his only playing time in the second half.

    If there is one word to describe the difference in Embiid’s play from opening night to the home opener, it would be that he was more forceful. It is obviously to his own benefit in an enormous way, but also does a whole lot for everybody else. The Sixers, clearly, are going to need more of it.

    Questionable frontcourt depth on display, but Andre Drummond swings the game

    Barlow has been a massive revelation so far, but the 22-year-old athletic big missed the second half of Saturday’s game due to an elbow laceration. And the Sixers’ clear reliance on a two-way player was jarring. Fellow two-way forward Jabari Walker started the second half in Barlow’s place, and while Walker had an impressive block to go with a few good defensive plays with his hands on the perimeter, he missed three wide open triples, with the first two misfires coming from the corner. Walker is a terrific rebounder and works tirelessly on defense, but much of his fate with the Sixers is going to come down to those open shots.

    Elsewhere, Adem Bona had his second consecutive game with a muted line in the box score. His effort remains there, but Bona will need to clean up some misses and finish plays on offense every now and then. With Embiid’s minutes limited, Drummond found himself being asked to play one short burst for the second game in a row. Drummond’s rebounding prowess turned out to be useful, and Nurse ended up riding him because it was more useful than anything Bona had provided. To his credit, Drummond was outstanding down the stretch of this game. He dominated the glass, finished a few shots inside and knocked down a critical free throw. Drummond had a nightmarish season last year, and the moment was clearly important for him, and the Sixers would not have won the game without his efforts.

    “My number was called, I was prepared, and we did great,” Drummond said. “…It was pretty cool to be a part of.”

    Even if Drummond is not seen as a regular rotation option, he will be an important piece of this when Embiid is sidelined.

    The other struggles, though, underscore the importance of getting nine-time All-Star Paul George back on the floor and keeping him there. George may never pay off the $200 million-plus investment the Sixers made in him, and he may not even look appreciably better than he did in a disappointing debut campaign with the team last year. But he is a multi-positional forward with defensive chops and excellent shot-making skill. His mere presence will provide some much-needed stability on both ends of the floor.

    Odds and ends

    A pair of additional notes:

    • Second-year wing Justin Edwards only played for a few seconds in Boston, logging one defensive possession and sitting for the remainder of the game. Edwards had an underwhelming Summer League and disappointing preseason, but Nurse reaffirmed his faith in the hometown product before Saturday’s game and said he was very much in play for rotation minutes.

    “I probably did not expect to not use him the other night, but just felt like as the game was going on and we were rotating guys around, we just didn’t quite get to him, so we shall see how it rolls out tonight,” Nurse said. “I like him. I think you guys know how much I like him. I really believe in him. I think that we need a player like him out there. And I can’t wait to give him that opportunity.”

    Ultimately, though, Nurse stuck with the same eight rotation regulars that he had in Boston. Edwards, who was listed as probable before the game due to rib soreness but got upgraded to available early in the afternoon, ended up watching this game from the bench. An opportunity is surely coming for him – and Nurse’s affection for Edwards’ game is genuine – but his preseason struggles have cost him, and it will only be tougher to crack the rotation once George is back in action. However, when Barlow missed the second half, it was only natural for Edwards to slide into the frontcourt mix, and that is exactly what happened. After a few timid minutes, Edwards knocked down an important three-point shot for his own confidence, then followed it up with another. Minutes later, a third triple went down for Edwards. It is a potential launching point.

    “That’s what they expect from me,” Edwards said, “and I was ready to go.”

    • As good as the Sixers’ assortment of young guards looks on paper, it has been even better in practice through a pair of games. On Wednesday, it was Maxey and Edgecombe going nuclear as scorers with Grimes scoring a few timely baskets and filling in a bunch of gaps. On Monday, Maxey and Grimes both knocked down four threes prior to intermission, while Edgecombe scored nine points and collected four assists as he focused more on playmaking. Grimes was their best guard on Saturday, and through two games his ability to adjust his role during each stint he plays is quite impressive.

    “It’s ideal if he can continue to do that,” Nurse said. “I see him as – I try to get him starter minutes off the bench… He was playing well and I know he had to get back in there at some point.”

    Up next: The Sixers will be back in action on Monday, when they play host to a strong Orlando Magic team. That game is the front end of their first back-to-back of the season.

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    Adam Aaronson

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  • Instant observations: VJ Edgecombe’s historic debut, Tyrese Maxey’s dominance lead Sixers to thrilling win on opening night

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    It was not perfect… but how does 1-0 sound?

    The Sixers have officially generated more momentum than they could at any point last year. They beat the Celtics in Boston on Wednesday night, 117-116, to begin the 2025-26 regular season in the win column. VJ Edgecombe dominated in the first quarter, Tyrese Maxey did the same in the second and the Sixers entered intermission with a lead. Joel Embiid’s conspicuous silence and a disastrous third quarter looked like they would sink the Sixers, but Maxey and Edgecombe took turns taking over to keep them afloat.

    It was impossible to justify trying to complete the comeback with a hobbled version of Embiid, so Sixers head coach Nick Nurse did not try to do it. He relied on his starting guards and a makeshift frontcourt to cross the finish line, and his Sixers just kept on pushing. Finally, Kelly Oubre Jr. turned around his struggles and put them ahead with a corner triple, then immediately drew an offensive foul on the other end. Despite Embiid’s complete ineptitude, the Sixers found a way to escape with a win, capitalizing on Maxey’s 40-point night and Edgecombe’s historic showing – a 34-point, seven-rebound masterpiece.

    Everything that stood out from the Sixers’ thrilling, gutsy win to open the season:

    VJ Edgecombe and Tyrese Maxey steal the show

    Good lord.

    There is not much else to say in reaction to Edgecombe’s first quarter of NBA action. The rookie talks a big game about being fearless and embracing challenges head-on, and he backed it up immediately. Edgecombe did not look remotely hesitant in his first quarter of his NBA debut in front of a raucous crowd. Instead, he looked eager, but not in an overzealous sort of way.

    Edgecombe was completely under control as he diced up Boston’s defense, scoring 14 points in 11 minutes and change. He made a free throw for his first NBA point, and soon after scored 10 Sixers points in a row, beginning with a blazing drive to the basket and continuing with some impressive shot-making mixed in as well:

    Edgecombe’s confidence has always appeared genuine. But watching him take no prisoners against the Boston Celtics in his very first burst of NBA action was pretty breathtaking. It reinforced everything he has said over the last few months, and affirmed the Sixers’ beliefs about his special mental makeup.

    According to the NBA, Edgecombe’s 14 points are the most ever scored in the first quarter by a player making his NBA debut, surpassing the mark of 12 established by LeBron James in 2003.

    Maxey happily played in a supporting role while Edgecombe dominated, but when the second quarter started it was the sixth-year guard’s turn to take over. After the first Edgecombe heater in the NBA, Maxey staged one of his vintage heaters. And with Embiid almost completely silent prior to intermission, the Sixers needed every bit of it.

    Maxey scored 19 points in the second quarter alone, and he did it in all sorts of ways: Maxey hit some ridiculous jumpers, but also scored at the rim, the free throw line and the mid-range area. His finest moment came when he knocked down back-to-back threes, and the second one reduced Maxey to flashing his signature smile. He got Celtics wing Josh Minott with a nasty step-back:

    Only one player not named Maxey or Edgecombe made multiple field goals in the first half (starting power forward Dominick Barlow made two shots). Yet those two guards were so dynamic that the Sixers entered intermission with a 57-51 lead. The Sixers’ overall defense was not quite as crisp as the Celtics’ 51-point mark would indicate – Boston missed a few wide open threes enabled by defensive breakdowns – but it was largely very good. It was in the second half when Boston started knocking down shots and the Sixers’ breakdowns became even more frequent.

    Joel Embiid a shell of himself in first game of season

    Many components of the identity the Sixers are attempting to adopt – regardless of Embiid’s availability – were on full display on Wednesday. That is, in itself, a major positive.

    But the Sixers embracing pace will only take them so far without doses of Embiid’s methodical scoring. And on Wednesday, there were almost no signs of life from Embiid as a scorer. He just was not moving well enough to succeed, as a scorer or in any other capacity in an NBA game.

    Embiid’s stints on the floor were short, but those quick bursts did not lead to any sort of increased intensity. Embiid constantly looked like he was laboring out there, and the Sixers were clearly better off when they did not bother trying to work him into the action and instead dialed up the tempo as much as they could, with Maxey and Edgecombe at the helm.

    Boston opened the game with 6-foot-6 wing Jaylen Brown defending Embiid, and the seven-footer did nothing to take advantage of the mismatch. He only played the first five minutes of each of the first two quarters; the Sixers had to summon Andre Drummond to help finish the first half. In the fourth quarter, it became impossible for the Sixers to get stops because the Celtics ramped up their pace and Embiid simply could not keep up in any capacity.

    It is just one game, but all of this is obviously ominous to some degree. Nobody was expecting Embiid to return to MVP-caliber play on opening night, and most people have written off the idea of him ever reaching those heights again. But if Embiid’s availability will consistently be limited – both in terms of games and minutes – he must be able to achieve some sorts of high-end outcomes for this team to thrive. Otherwise, there will be too significant of a workload on the rest of the group.

    Odds and ends

    Some additional notes:

    • The opening frame belonged to Edgecombe, but the most impressive individual moment early on in this game belonged to Barlow. The Sixers have been praising his activity and rebounding for weeks, and Maxey said last week that he gets a lot of rebounds people do not expect him to grab. Barlow did just that, soaring out of nowhere to grab an Embiid miss and quickly assist a 28-foot Maxey triple for the star guard’s first basket of the season. He then missed a corner three, but emphatically swatted Derrick White in transition to force a jump ball. Barlow won that jump ball, immediately ran the floor and converted an and-one in transition:

    Ever since the start of training camp, Nurse and several Sixers players have raved about what Barlow has brought to their gym. Everything they described was on display immediately on Wednesday night, from Barlow’s five rebounds (three on the offensive glass) to his hustle on the defensive end. 

    • Justin Edwards was not in the Sixers’ regular rotation in this game. He played the last defensive possession of the first quarter, but otherwise the Sixers forward’s minutes went to Oubre, Barlow and fellow two-way signee Jabari Walker. It is a slight surprise given the Sixers’ absences at those positions, but not a stunner because Edwards has not played well since the end of last season.

    • The Sixers’ use of three-guard lineups should create advantageous perimeter matchups pretty regularly. On Wednesday, they had many chances to attack new Celtics guard Anfernee Simons, one of the weakest defenders in the NBA. Simons often found himself defending Grimes, a much taller and bigger player, but the Celtics got away with it the whole way. The Sixers should not feel compelled to completely disrupt their offensive flow for the sake of attacking mismatches, but sometimes it must be done.

    Up next: After a pair of days off, the Sixers will play their home opener against the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday night.

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    Adam Aaronson

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  • Sixers rookie VJ Edgecombe, ‘just out there having fun,’ stars in home debut: ‘I can’t wait for him to get started with his career’

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    PHILADELPHIA – VJ Edgecombe watches basketball… a lot.

    “I’m not even watching a Netflix show or nothing,” he said after posting a dominant two-way performance in the final game of his first NBA preseason. “I just need to go on YouTube to watch basketball… I just watch a lot of basketball.”

    Edgecombe has smiled as viewers react with surprise at his flashes of advanced feel as a ball-handler. He is a 20-year-old rookie, after all, and one of his supposed weaknesses entering the 2025 NBA Draft was his on-ball skill. Before the season could even begin, though, Edgecombe has proven so much to his team that it reacted by putting him on the ball frequently and moving All-Star Tyrese Maxey away from it. He believes it is the product of his obsession with watching basketball. However it happened, it has changed the team’s calculus.

    “I think we thought, ‘Okay, maybe he could play on the ball some,’ and we were talking about ‘Let’s do it at Summer League,’” Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said after Friday’s exhibition win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. “But where we’re at, I think he’s way ahead of where we thought he might be being able to do that.”

    Edgecombe recorded 26 points, six rebounds, three assists and five steals against the Timberwolves, shaking off a lackluster start and rapidly improving as the game went on, clearly looking like the best player on the floor as the game winded down.

    If there is anyone not surprised by what Edgecombe did when empowered to play with the ball, it is the player who was hastily given the ball five years ago and parlayed the opportunity into stardom and hundreds of millions of dollars. How impressed is Maxey by Edgecombe’s quick comfort against NBA defenders?

    “Extremely,” Maxey said. “…He makes good decisions, he doesn’t let people speed him up. I think he plays extremely mature for being a rookie. He’s good. He’s good at basketball.”

    Any unexpected skill development Edgecombe experiences – or any strides he makes as a decision-maker – will be bonuses on top of the tremendous foundation of tenacity and athleticism which makes it impossible to imagine the No. 3 overall pick failing to become an impact player at this level. He is a truly elite athlete whose motor never stops running. That alone can take him a lot of places that many players cannot reach. His blazing end-to-end speed is truly remarkable to witness in person; Edgecombe’s teammates have already gotten the memo to look for him as soon as a transition opportunity presents itself.

    Because of the infrastructure surrounding Edgecombe – Maxey is an established star, Jared McCain is as polished offensively as any 21-year-old can be and Quentin Grimes has a well-rounded skillset on both ends of the floor – there is not much pressure on the rookie’s shoulders in the short-term. But that does not mean he will not be thrown into the fire early. In fact, the opposite is true: Nurse plans to start Edgecombe when the Sixers begin the 2025-26 regular season on Wednesday night in Boston, and he is ready to embrace the inevitable bumps in the road.

    Nurse said the level of success Edgecombe attains as a rookie will be determined by how many minutes he logs. His goal is to help Edgecombe experience as much of the good and bad that comes with being in the NBA as he can because “that’s what playing in the league and gaining experience is all about.” But as early as the night the Sixers tabbed Edgecombe as their newest franchise pillar, it was clear that no fire intimidates Edgecombe. He displays an unwavering sense of self-belief. It is genuine. Asked about that fearlessness on Friday night, Edgecombe almost looked confused.

    “I mean, I know I worked hard to be in this position,” Edgecombe said. “…If I wasn’t ready for it, I wouldn’t have been here. I feel as though I just have a lot of confidence. My teammates instill confidence in me also. So, I won’t say it’s easy, but it’s basketball at the end of the day. I’m trying not to overthink it. I love the game so much… It just flows naturally, man. I’m just out there having fun.”

    Flowing naturally would be a good way to describe the Sixers’ guard play on Friday. Maxey dominated early, then moved away from the ball and Edgecombe got in a rhythm. In between their two heaters was one for Quentin Grimes. The three guards whose ages add up to 69 years combined to score 75 points. They all can threaten opposing defenses with or without the ball in their hands and play with a tremendous pace.

    “That’s the name of the game right now in the NBA: pushing the pace and getting up threes,” Grimes said. “We’ve got a lot of guys who play fast, push the pace, create opportunities for not just ourselves but our teammates. So I feel like if we keep pushing the pace, it’ll get the defense tired. And it might get us tired, too, but we’ll be alright in the long run.”

    For Maxey and Grimes, their off-ball scoring method is the traditional one: three-point shooting. Edgecombe has worked tirelessly to improve his jumper, specifically adding an arc to it so it is not flat like it was during his lone collegiate campaign at Baylor. He is a competent shooter right now, but probably not one who will be consistently reliable just yet.

    Edgecombe’s transition scoring will be a weapon right away, though, and he is seeking out other avenues to score. One of those is forcing turnovers; Edgecombe said his favorite part of Friday’s box score was his five steals. After Friday morning’s shootaround, Edgecombe spoke about the pride he takes in his defensive output and how extensive studying of the game’s elite defenders has helped him grow. Another one is cutting, as Edgecombe continues to beat defenders back-door, though his finishing will need to improve:

    On Friday night, there were a few highlight dunks, a pair of threes and some acrobatic finishes at the rim. But Edgecombe’s first basket came when his defender tagged a rolling Joel Embiid as a shot went up and Edgecombe filled the open lane for an easy put-back layup off the miss.

    Edgecombe knew he would get that offensive rebound, he said. The reason he provided: he just knows when he will get an offensive rebound.

    How?

    “It’s natural,” Edgecombe said.

    Edgecombe knows he has a chance to make an impact on the glass, a rarity for a guard of his size. But he has developed a strong understanding of how to read where misses will ricochet, another example of his strong basketball instincts. The absurd athleticism does not hurt, either.

    “And I jump pretty high,” Edgecombe said. “So I can just go up there sometimes, snag it when they’re not looking, disrespecting it.”

    Maybe for a player believed to not yet have a tight enough handle to play on the ball in the NBA, Edgecombe’s unabashed confidence is the perfect ingredient for a successful rookie season. If Friday’s showing was any indication, there are many ways he has a chance to impact winning for the Sixers.

    “Kudos to him, dude,” Maxey said. “The way he’s doing out here right now is good. I’m ready to see him in some real action, and I can’t wait for him to get started on his career.”

    MORE: Embiid’s return provides the Sixers some hope – and Embiid some relief

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    Adam Aaronson

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  • Instant observations: Joel Embiid returns to action as Sixers stage dress rehearsal in preseason finale

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    PHILADELPHIA — Never has an exhibition carried more weight in the Sixers universe than Friday night’s preseason finale, a home contest against a Minnesota Timberwolves team sitting just about every key player.

    For the first time since Feb. 22, Joel Embiid has played in an NBA contest. While Minnesota was not suiting up many rotation players, Sixers head coach Nick Nurse led his team into a dress rehearsal, with a previously stated goal of having “main guys playing as long and as much together as we can.” Embiid was part of that, as were Quentin Grimes and VJ Edgecombe. Paul George, Jared McCain, Trendon Watford and Kyle Lowry were the only players unavailable on Friday.

    Tyrese Maxey and Edgecombe started in the backcourt for the Sixers, with Kelly Oubre Jr. filling in the last spot ahead of Embiid and Adem Bona, a massive surprise even after Nurse unveiled that two-big combination and expressed interest in using it last weekend at the Blue X White Scrimmage.

    Everything that stood out from Embiid’s performance, plus a tremendous showing from Edgecome and a batch of other notes regarding Nurse’s rotation in the Sixers’ 126-110 win over Minnesota: 

    Joel Embiid returns to action

    It was hard to do much complaining about Embiid’s first stint on the floor, which lasted just over six minutes. He scored three baskets, was noticeably active defensively – steals do not necessarily indicate this, but he did also have a pair of early steals – and each time he grabbed a rebound, Embiid was quickly looking to initiate a transition possession with a hit-ahead pass.

    Embiid scored the first basket of the game, and it was thanks to the two-man game he and Maxey have mastered over the years:

    Maxey is not the only player with a chance to develop that sort of rapport with Embiid. McCain is the most obvious candidate, but Grimes has more than enough ball-handling and pull-up shooting chops to be dynamic in those actions. Defenses have to pay close attention to Grimes, and that much was evident the first time he and Embiid flowed into a two-man action. A roaring success here:

    Above all else, it was clear from the outset just how impactful Embiid’s presence is. When 10 eyeballs are always focused on one offensive player, all of their teammates’ lives become a whole lot easier. Everyone experienced it, from Maxey on down. But Embiid also seeks out chances to utilize the leverage he has for his teammates’ collective benefit. He looks bought-in as far as scaling down his scoring workload to conserve his energy and provide some additional energy to his teammates in the form of chances with the ball.

    Embiid’s second stint, the first three minutes of the second quarter, was less inspiring. He did not move nearly as well and struggled to establish positioning against 18-year-old rookie, Joan Beringer. It led to a few Sixers turnovers. Embiid hit the bench, but was set to return for the final three minutes of the half and redeemed himself then.

    Closing the half, Embiid’s movement was much better – specifically going from end to end – and he continued to create scoring chances for his teammates. Embiid totaled seven assists in his 13 minutes prior to intermission to go with nine points, five rebounds and three steals.

    The most interesting aspect of Embiid’s offensive usage in the first half was probably his work as an inbound passer. The Sixers scored off of sideline out-of-bounds passes by Embiid three times prior to intermission; one of those came from Embiid himself, when he threw the ball to Maxey and quickly came off screens for a triple:

    Nurse said before the game that he expected Embiid’s minutes to extend into the second half, and he indeed played the first six minutes or so of the third quarter – but not without a scare. Embiid barreled into the paint and was whistled for a charge. He took a hard fall in traffic, with all sorts of limbs flying in different directions. It was the exact play that has given Sixers fans hundreds of scares during Embiid’s career. 

    After about five seconds on the ground, Embiid shot up and made a point to hustle down to the other end of the floor and show he was fine. He played for another minute or so before his fourth and final stint came to a close, ending his night at just under 20 minutes with 14 points, eight assists, seven rebounds and three assists to his name.

    No matter how Embiid looked on the floor, the following was going to be true: the absolute most important part of Embiid’s appearance on Friday night will be how he feels when he wakes up Saturday morning. There is little doubt that even a limited version of Embiid can impact winning at the NBA level; where skepticism exists is whether or not Embiid’s knee is strong enough to handle the rigors of NBA action. Last year, it was not.

    Other rotation notes

    While all of the focus was understandably on Embiid, this game also offered plenty of hints into what Nurse’s rotation might look like when the Sixers open their 2025-26 regular season in Boston on Wednesday. Some takeaways:

    • The combination of Embiid and Bona starting was a shock, and it was jarring to see a Sixers team that was forced to play so small last season absolutely tower over Minnesota’s undersized starting five, featuring a tiny point guard, the aforementioned 18-year-old center and three wings in between. Nurse is enthusiastic about the idea of being able to punish opposing teams with force and power; this arrangement gives him the chance to do that.

    • However, Nurse did not start three guards as a result. That forced Grimes, clearly a starting-caliber player, to the bench. Grimes is a better player than Edgecombe right now, but developing Edgecombe figures to be a higher organizational priority. Grimes provides much more ball-handling than Edgecombe, whose ball skills are very much a work in progress. Bringing Grimes off the bench does make it easier to stagger him with Maxey and ensure there is always ball-handling on the floor, but nobody should be surprised if Nurse eventually opts to start the 25-year-old alongside Maxey and Edgecombe. Grimes would be the small forward in that scenario.

    • Bona’s opening stint alongside Embiid only lasted three minutes, and then Nurse gave two-way signee Dominick Barlow a chance to play a more traditional power forward. If Bona does not start on opening night and Nurse keeps Grimes on the bench, Barlow would be the favorite to help Embiid out in the frontcourt. It is a remarkable rise for a player whose training camp has turned a whole lot of heads. It is worth noting that Barlow opened the second half next to Embiid with Bona on the bench.

    • Edgecombe has started in all three of his preseason appearances, and Nurse acknowledged before Friday’s game that it is fair to assume he will keep that spot for Wednesday night’s season opener. He appears willing to embrace the bumps in the road that come with throwing a rookie into the fire. He said a successful season for Edgecombe would be one in which he logs plenty of minutes. “That’s what playing in the league and gaining experience is all about,” Nurse said.

    Interestingly, a ton of the Maxey-plus-Edgecombe minutes early on featured the rookie handling the ball and Maxey being used away from it. Weaponizing Maxey off the ball is a clear priority for Nurse, but Edgecombe is going to have to show major strides as a ball-handler relative to where he was at during his lone collegiate season at Baylor. Edgecombe got a whole lot better as the game went on, and by the fourth quarter the 20-year-old looked like the best player on the floor. It was a tremendous home debut for Edgecombe, whose final line was stellar: 34 minutes, 26 points, six rebounds, three assists and five steals while making 10 of his 18 shots.

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    Adam Aaronson

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  • Sixers preseason provides Kennedy Chandler the minutes – and advice – he’s been ‘just waiting for’

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    PHILADELPHIA– Kennedy Chandler’s unrelenting ball pressure against Orlando Magic guards on Friday night looked exhausting. Chandler, an Exhibit 10 signee forced into a prominent preseason role for the Sixers due to injuries, has played much more than anyone would have anticipated and done so at a massive level of intensity. But given what he has been tasked with in practice, Chandler has had no issues in games.

    “It starts with practice, picking up [Tyrese] Maxey full-court. Like, I’m fast, but – it’s Maxey,” Chandler said on Friday night. “It starts with practice. I’ve been picking him up full court each and every single day, and he’s helping me be better on that end, because I know if I can stay in front of him I can stay in front of anybody else on an NBA court.”

    It has been an extremely productive preseason so far for Chandler, a 23-year-old former second-round pick whose NBA career has been limited to 36 appearances in the 2022-23 season. Chandler, likely ticketed for a key role with the Delaware Blue Coats in the G League to begin 2025-26, spoke at length about his desire to get back into the league after the Sixers’ third preseason game of 2025, a home loss to the Orlando Magic. 

    “I felt like I had an opportunity over here,” Chandler said. “…Just blessed to be here. Blessed for the opportunity to play in the preseason. I haven’t played in the preseason since my rookie year, so it’s been two years since I’ve played in an environment like this with a crowd like this. I’m just blessed to be here, and thankful to Philly for giving me an opportunity to showcase my talent, to be in this organization that wanted me.”

    Chandler, who scored 16 points to go with five assists and four steals on Friday, knows the odds are stacked against him. He has been out of the league for years after a very short stint with the Memphis Grizzlies. The Sixers listed Chandler at 5-foot-11 and 172 pounds before the start of training camp. It is hard to be more of an underdog. Chandler has embraced it and tried to lean on a new teammate he has always looked up to: Kyle Lowry, a 6-foot guard entering his 20th NBA season.

    Lowry has lots of answers, so Chandler has peppered him with questions.

    “Never thought I’d be teammates with him, a veteran guy like him being in the league for a very long time,” Chandler said. “A small guard like me, I want to be in the same position he is, playing in the NBA for a very long time. Anything I can ask him, I’ll do every single time.”

    Chandler said Lowry’s most helpful pieces of advice have pertained to defending in the post without fouling and picking the right spots to get downhill out of pick-and-roll versus times to get to a floater.

    “I learn something new from him,” Chandler said, “every day.”

    Chandler is doing something right, because after the Sixers’ practice on Thursday head coach Nick Nurse highlighted his basketball acumen.

    “He’s got a pretty good feel for running and organizing the team,” Nurse said. “I’ve been impressed with his knowledge of the game and the way he’s picked things up and the way he’s kind of transferred that to keeping the team fairly organized.

    Chandler knows the challenges that come with thriving in the NBA at his size. Asked what he has learned since his rookie season about what he will need to provide to accomplish that, Chandler mentioned a point guard of Sixers past.

    “T.J. McConnell,” Chandler said. “I’ve been watching what he does, picking up full court, being a pest on the defensive end… That’s the main thing I would take from my rookie year to now, is really learning what I’ve got to do to stay on the court and stay in the league as a smaller guard.”

    Because he was signed to an Exhibit 10 contract, it is clear that Chandler will be waived by the Sixers before the regular season begins. But Chandler could be a prominent part of the Blue Coats, and if a two-way roster spot opens up in Philadelphia (or elsewhere), he will be eligible to fill it. Chandler wholeheartedly believes he has what it takes to stick in the NBA, and turning a preseason chance into strong momentum in the G League could be a turning point in his career.

    For Chandler, a moment like Friday night was years in the making.

    “Man, I was just waiting. I was just waiting on calls, just waiting for something to happen,” Chandler said. “It just happened.”

    MORE: More observations from Thursday’s game, including Tyrese Maxey’s offense

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    Adam Aaronson

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  • Sixers soundbites: Quentin Grimes says “I wanted to be back here on a longer-term deal, but I’m happy to be here right now”

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    CAMDEN, N.J. – The last time Quentin Grimes addressed this group of reporters, he had just completed his worst two-game stretch within the best two-month period of basketball he had ever played. The day was April 13, and Grimes made only three of his 14 shot attempts after posting a 4-for-17 line in his prior appearance. 

    Grimes was battling shoulder and back injuries, but the Sixers needed him to play in order to reach the minimum eight available bodies. He was at peace, because in the several weeks preceding those games he established himself as a dynamic three-level scorer against NBA defenses.

    After being acquired at the trade deadline from the Dallas Mavericks, Grimes ended up being the lone bright spot in a miserable last two months of the 2024-25 Sixers season. So, on April 13, Sixers President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey shouted out the soon-to-be restricted free agent, highlighting that the team was positioned well to re-sign Grimes.

    Nearly six months later, Grimes did indeed sign a contract with the Sixers. But instead of inking a multiyear deal to cement a long-term partnership, he accepted the one-year, $8.7 million qualifying offer to ensure he could become an unrestricted free agent next offseason. Three months of slow and unproductive negotiations led to a poor result for all parties involved.

    On Wednesday afternoon, Grimes completed his first practice with the team since it returned from a preseason trip to Abu Dhabi. In this edition of Sixers soundbites, everything Grimes had to say as he returns to Philadelphia:

    • Grimes on how he is feeling after returning to town:

    “I’ve been great. I’ve been great. Got the first couple of practices out of the way, it’s been good seeing all the guys, competing hard the last couple days… I’m happy to be here.”

    • Grimes on what he was able to do physically while unsigned over the summer and what condition he is in now:

    “I went down to [University of Houston]. If y’all know anything about Coach [Kelvin] Sampson, I was in pretty good shape down there working out with the guys and competing down there in some live action. But this was my first time really going up and down five-on-five. But I feel like I’m in great shape. Coach Sampson had me doing some pretty good conditioning down there.”

    • Grimes on the toughest part of his restricted free agency:

    “Probably just the waiting process. This is a business. I know that. It’s the NBA. There’s things you can’t control and stuff like that. Contracts and stuff like that, but I kept up with the guys like Tyrese [Maxey] and Trendon [Watford], [Eric Gordon], Kelly [Oubre Jr.]. We have a pretty close-knit group of guys checking in on me. I wanted to be back, so I’m happy to be here right now, for sure.“

    MORE: Sixers issue injury updates on Joel Embiid, Paul George, Trendon Watford

    • Grimes on if he holds any ill will toward the Sixers after the negotiations were unsuccessful:

    “No, not at all. I’m here to play basketball. I try to control what I can control and that’s how hard I go in the gym, preparation-wise, working out my body, and I leave [contractual matters] up to my agent and the front office. Hopefully, I’ll be able to be back here longer. I wanted to be back here on a longer-term deal, but I’m happy to be here right now and do everything I can to help this team win.“

    • Grimes on how he can replicate his success from the end of last season moving forward:

    “Talking to Coach [Nick] Nurse, talking to assistant coaches that’s letting me know I can come in, play my game, making shots. When I’m open, shoot it, being in attack mode all the time, and just going out there and making the right play. Make winning plays, make the right reads on offense, be whatever they need me to be. Going back to being the two-way guy whenever they need the two-way guy I know I can be. Just keep doing things, stacking days.“

    • Grimes on how he has tried to acclimate to the group since re-signing:

    “We’ve got some new wrinkles on offense and stuff like that. I’m trying to get the terminology down just trying to get more reps in with the guys, learn the plays a little more. I was here for about two months last year, so we’ve got a whole new offense and I came here a little late, so just trying to get the reps in with the guys before practice, after practice, off days. I’ve been here since Saturday so [I’ve worked] Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. So just trying to get as many reps as I can.“

    MORE: Building lineups Sixers head coach Nick Nurse should use in 2025-26

    • Grimes on the Sixers’ group of four talented young guards as he gets ready to share a backcourt with Tyrese Maxey, Jared McCain and VJ Edgecombe:

    “I feel like we can just push the pace. That’s the name of the game right now: pushing the pace, a lot of shooting, go out there and try to push the pace as much as we can. Getting up and down, putting as much pressure on the defense as we can and we have a lot of guards who can attack the rim, make plays, make the right reads, a lot of shooting. So if we just play for each other, and try to help each other out as much as we can, everything will take care of itself.“

    • Grimes on what he did last season that he believes he can carry into the future: 

    “I think just being dynamic with the ball, catch and shoot, making plays off the dribble. I feel like I showed that stuff a little bit in Dallas. Here, it was kind of magnified a little bit more with the ball consistently in my hands. So just trying to keep up with that all summer, keeping up with my ball-handling, making the right reads off pick-and-roll. So I feel like just as a whole, I can carry that over into the season for sure.“

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    Adam Aaronson

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  • Sixers player preview: Is Trendon Watford going to be another valuable veteran’s minimum signing?

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    Welcome to our Sixers player preview series, where in the weeks leading up to Media Day we will preview the upcoming 2025-26 season for each and every member of the Sixers’ standard roster. For each player, we will pose two key questions about their season before making a prediction.

    The pressure is on after a miserable 24-58 campaign last season. After entering a year with championship aspirations and spending multiple months having to tank for the sake of a protected first-round pick, the Sixers have lost any and all benefit of the doubt that their signature season is finally coming.

    It is safe to say there is a whole lot of work to do on the Sixers’ end to prove the doubters wrong. Do they have a roster good enough to make it happen?

    Up next: Trendon Watford, the team’s lone external addition to its standard roster via free agency this summer. A close friend of Tyrese Maxey, the 6-foot-9, 240-pound Watford possesses unique ball-handling and passing skills at power forward, giving him an opportunity to fill a new role within Sixers head coach Nick Nurse’s offense. How high is the ceiling for the 24-year-old forward signed to a two-year deal worth the veteran’s minimum salary?

    SIXERS PLAYER PREVIEWS

    Jared McCain | Justin Edwards | VJ Edgecombe | Kyle Lowry | Kelly Oubre Jr. | Johni Broome | Adem Bona | Andre Drummond | Trendon Watford

    Can Watford form a dynamic two-man game with his close friend?

    Around this time last year, this question was being asked about another one of Maxey’s close friends: KJ Martin. Martin and Maxey had grown close off the floor, and entering last season Maxey announced his intention to create a lethal two-man game with the athletic forward. He went as far as to say he wanted to create a similar dynamic that James Harden and P.J. Tucker had.

    Now, it would be wise to expect that Maxey and Watford are eager to accentuate each other’s strengths on the court. Watford joked over the summer that he has only ever gotten to play against his friend. Now they can see what it looks like when both players are in the same uniform. Watford’s potential two-man game with Maxey will look different than Martin’s did – Martin is a far superior athlete, but not nearly as good of a passer – but as they try to form a reliable combination, there can be some examples drawn from the brief success Maxey and Martin had together

    Watford is a suspect three-point shooter (more on this later). If he plays himself into a critical role at power forward and Joel Embiid is available, Watford will often be the Sixers’ worst shooter on the floor. Defenses will leave him open a lot. The same was true for Martin, who found ways to leverage that for the benefit of others:

    While Martin utilized impressive short-roll passing chops and strong instincts during his time with the Sixers, Watford has a complete ball-handling repertoire. He is a true point forward who is going to initiate plenty of offense for the Sixers whenever he is on the floor.

    Being able to weaponize Maxey – and Jared McCain, for that matter – as off-ball scoring threats will go a long way for the Sixers on the offensive end of the floor. Those players can fly around screens and wait for Watford to find them, or they can curl around Watford for dribble hand-off actions like this one: 

    Maxey will not be the lone beneficiary of Watford’s unique skills, but he certainly figures to be the player Watford shares the floor with more than any other. The pairing has preexisting chemistry that could do it a whole lot of good.   

    MORE: Watford explains connection with Maxey, unique skills, more

    What will Watford provide offensively when he does not have the ball?

    Watford is clearly a gifted ball-handler at his size, and his full package of passing talents will provide value to this offense. But in order to really stick as a critical component of the rotation, he cannot be a liability away from the ball.

    In general, Watford has made enough of his open three-point attempts to avoid that status. But he has not made enough of those shots for anyone to feel good about his accuracy, and in his four-year NBA career Watford’s three-point volume has often been limited by his slow release:

    At the peak of Martin’s time with the Sixers, he had grown comfortable knocking down corner triples. It helped define his offensive role for many possessions within a game. Can Watford become similarly useful in that spot? He does not have tons of experience there in his career, but it should be the easiest region of the floor for him to find success spotting up:

    For any role player on a team full of ball-dominant, high-usage players, the ability to make catch-and-shoot three-pointers is just going to be crucial no matter what. There is no doubt that Watford’s significant ball skills give him greater margin for error as a three-point shooter, but in order to play important minutes in extremely competitive games he is going to have to prove capable of making defenses pay for ignoring him.

    MORE: Trendon Watford full film study

    Prediction

    Watford does not profile as a long-term starter with the Sixers, but he plays well enough to establish himself as a helpful rotation piece. As a result, the Sixers pick up his $2.8 million team option for the 2026-27 season with zero hesitation. 

    Watford very well could get a healthy number of starts at the four in 2025-26, but that’s much more of a reflection on the team’s lack of a firm option at the position than Watford’s own ability. And while the guess here is that Watford proves to be a keeper in Philadelphia thanks to his outstanding ball-handling and passing skill at his size, it is likely not wise to bank on Watford being the team’s long-term solution at power forward.

    To be clear: That is completely fine. If Watford ends up good enough to be at the back end of a rotation, the Sixers’ commitment to him will have paid off in spades. Finding a player even occasionally viable of logging rotation minutes on a two-year minimum deal – Watford’s deal also contains a team option for the second season, ensuring the Sixers will not lose him after one year like they did Guerschon Yabusele – is a massive win every single time.

    Sixers President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey takes a whole lot of criticism these days; plenty of it is earned. But his track record of success with minimum signings since arriving in Philadelphia is outstanding, and given the makeup of their cap sheet the Sixers must continue hitting on players like they did with Yabusele at the bottom of the market in free agency. Will Watford be their latest diamond in the rough?

    Follow Adam on Twitter: @SixersAdam
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    Adam Aaronson

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  • Tyrese Maxey to be re-evaluated in a week after suffering strained right hamstring, Sixers say

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    LOS ANGELES, CA — Sixers All-Star point guard Tyrese Maxey has a right hamstring strain, the Sixers said on Thursday. He will be re-evaluated in approximately one week.

    Sixers head coach Nick Nurse told reporters after the team’s practice that it is unclear if Maxey suffered the injury on any particular play, but an MRI revealed that he will need to be sidelined for the time being.

    Maxey was removed during the second half of the Sixers’ road loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night, but Nurse indicated after the game that the team had merely been playing it safe with one of their stars.

    “I don’t think [Maxey will miss time],” Nurse said. “I don’t have any idea at this point. But again, just precautionary. Really precautionary… That type of game, there was not much of a reason to try to push him through.”

    MORE: Postgame sounds from Sixers-Clippers

    Now, though, the Sixers will be without Maxey for at least a week — and Shams Charania of ESPN, who first reported the news Thursday morning, said Maxey was expected to miss multiple weeks.

    In the interim, Nurse said his plan is to elevate Kyle Lowry into the starting point guard role, with veteran Reggie Jackson backing him up. Two-way point guard Jeff Dowtin Jr. could also be involved at some point.

    With Maxey out for at least a week and Joel Embiid serving a suspension for two more games, suddenly the Sixers’ lone star is Paul George, who has only played two games this season and has had his minutes and workload monitored. Nurse said that there is no specific timeline on when George will be a full go, but that the nine-time All-Star will at least be “limited” when the Sixers take on the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night.

    The Sixers have struggled mightily on the offensive end of the floor all season, and things are only going to get tougher without Maxey in the fold for the time being.

    Follow Adam on Twitter: @SixersAdam

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    Adam Aaronson

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  • Instant observations: Sixers suffer brutal loss to Raptors, fall to 0-2

    Instant observations: Sixers suffer brutal loss to Raptors, fall to 0-2

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    Looking to rebound after an opening night loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday night, the Sixers traveled to Toronto for a Friday night battle against the rebuilding Raptors in hopes of nabbing their first win of the season. In Nick Nurse’s return to Toronto — where he won an NBA title as a rookie head coach — he made two significant early changes. One of those changes involved Kyle Lowry, considered by most to be the greatest Raptor of all time.

    In their second game of the season, the Sixers looked the part of a group of players figuring out how to coexist with one another — much more than they did against Milwaukee. An incredibly disjointed first half had them off to a shaky start, and in the second half a few brief spurts were overtaken by Raptors runs. Suddenly, the Sixers are 0-2.

    Here is what stood out from a putrid 115-107 Sixers loss.

    MORE: Lowry and Nurse’s Toronto legacies

    Nurse makes a pair of starting lineup changes

    Initially, Lowry was supposed to be the Sixers’ third guard when he joined the team late in 2023-24, but was quickly forced into an outsized role at the team’s starting shooting guard. Nurse confirmed at the team’s Media Day last month that Lowry would likely not have as significant of a role in his first full season with the team.

    Lowry came off the bench in all of his preseason appearances and did so on Wednesday night. Fellow veteran Eric Gordon earned ownership of the starting shooting guard spot that Lowry had vacated, while KJ Martin filled in for the injured Paul George and Caleb Martin was expected to log plenty of minutes off the bench.

    Lowry played well on Wednesday night, while Caleb Martin was likely the Sixers’ best player on the floor in his debut with the team. And Nurse wasted no time inserting the former teammates into his starting lineup around Tyrese Maxey, Kelly Oubre Jr. and Andre Drummond, with Gordon and KJ Martin moving to the bench.

    Nurse’s Martin-for-Martin swap was not a huge surprise. Caleb Martin played more than 37 minutes off the bench — more than any Sixer other than Maxey — and if he is going to continue to shoulder that sort of workload, it becomes a bit trickier to find all of those minutes for him when he does not play for the first handful of minutes of the game. 

    The decision to replace Gordon with Lowry, though, came as a larger surprise. Gordon had a poor outing in his Sixers debut, failing to connect from beyond the arc and only making one of his four shot attempts from inside the arc. Nurse seemed to have plenty of conviction during the preseason that Gordon being part of the starting unit provided valuable floor spacing — enough that even Gordon being usurped by Lowry, a famous Nurse favorite, was surprising this early in the season.

    Paul George injury update

    Speaking of George, the nine-time All-Star’s Sixers debut will not happen this weekend. George is out for the Sixers’ Sunday afternoon contest against the Pacers in Indiana and will be re-evaluated soon after, the Sixers said on Thursday evening.

    “George continues progressing well in his recovery from a left knee bone bruise,” the Sixers said. “He will not play during the team’s two-game road trip and an update on his availability is expected early next week.”

    Center rotation unravels early, but Maxey gets off to hot start thanks to help from one new teammate

    Drummond, who committed five fouls in 25 minutes on Wednesday night, had to check out after just over three minutes of action in this one. Maintaining defensive discipline is always important for a center, but Drummond needs to be particularly cognizant when Joel Embiid is sidelined that he must remain available to play heavy minutes.

    Replacing Drummond was the Sixers’ temporary backup center, Guerschon Yabusele, who set a couple of mean screens to free up Maxey for a pair of triples from the right wing. Maxey also converted an and-one and had a few gorgeous assists in the first quarter, a major improvement from a poor opening frame against Milwaukee.

    Yabusele quickly got into foul trouble as well, though — and by the 4:22 mark of the first quarter, Nurse was using his third center of the game. KJ Martin slid up to the five, a spot where he was occasionally used down the stretch last season. The fifth-year athletic chess piece blocked a shot early on in his stint at center, and a moment later had a strong one-on-one stand on the block against center Bruno Fernando which led to a basket on the other end for him.

    Then, another genuine surprise: the insertion of rookie Adem Bona, who had not been expected to see regular minutes at any point in the near future. Bona, the Sixers’ fourth center of the opening frame, has plenty of work to do limiting his own fouling — and on his first defensive possession of the night, he fouled Raptors All-Star point forward Scottie Barnes on a drive to the basket.

    With the chance to make a pair of offensive-oriented substitutions near the end of the quarter, Nurse pulled Bona and KJ Martin for Maxey and Ricky Council IV. Four seconds later, Maxey had drawn a foul, and KJ Martin returned for a defensive stand. The whole thing made for a wild ride:

    Somehow, the Sixers ended up leading Toronto, 31-30, after the conclusion of the first quarter. Maxey’s 13 points and four assists were both game-highs.

    Fouling issues continue to plague Sixers, but rim pressure helps ease the blow

    In addition to Drummond’s five fouls against the Bucks, Yabusele fouled out, Oubre collected five fouls, and both Martins had four fouls (and KJ only saw 15 minutes of action).

    The Sixers’ inability to stay out of foul trouble only escalated in the first half of this one. In addition to Drummond and Yabusele, Caleb Martin also picked up a pair of fouls in the first quarter. Caleb Martin, Yabusele and Lowry each had three around the midway point of the second quarter.

    Early returns on the Sixers’ bets on athleticism and positional versatility outweighing frame and muscle have been noticeably poor, as a team suddenly without a Goliath in Embiid is being physically overwhelmed. It is far too soon to make any declarative statements about the viability of the Sixers’ mostly-undersized roster, particularly given the noteworthy talents that have been unavailable through their first pair of games, but this is certainly something to keep an eye on.

    On the bright side, the Sixers were able to bait Toronto into committing the same amount of fouls before intermission — 15 — and shot nearly as many free throws as the Raptors. Maxey led the way, knocking down all seven of his free throws. Drummond drew three fouls, but only made two out of six attempts at the line.

    All of the whistles led to one of the longer halves of October basketball you will see. Toronto was much more efficient from the field, paving the way for a 62-56 Raptors lead at intermission.

    Oubre opens third quarter strong, Sixers run follows

    The Sixers were desperate for some juice on both ends of the floor in the second half, Oubre who gave it to them right off the bat. The fan favorite swingman took a charge, knocked down a step-back mid-range jumper, forced a backcourt violation, threw a perfect alley-oop pass to Drummond and connected on a floater, all in the span of about two and a half minutes.

    For the time being, though, Oubre’s excellent sequence of two-way action did not power a Sixers surge, it merely kept them afloat. In fact, Toronto’s lead actually increased from its standing at halftime during Oubre’s strong 6:37 of action to begin the third quarter.

    Coincidentally, the Sixers were able to make inroads on Toronto’s lead after Oubre went to the bench. Gordon knocked down his first triple as a Sixer, Yabusele converted an and-one, and suddenly the Sixers were within a few baskets. Their defense is what led their charge back into the game, as they held the Raptors to just 21 points in the frame.

    Toronto’s lead was trimmed to two points with a few moments left in the third quarter, but the Sixers made too many mistakes offensively. The Raptors were able to extent their lead to six points heading into the fourth quarter. Among the lowlights were consecutive tough breaks for Council, who did not know where to be to begin a possession that devolved into a Gordon-Yabusele pick-and-roll, leading to a turnover. The second-year wing missed a wide open three-point attempt the next time down the floor.

    Raptors open final frame on major run

    The Sixers needed to make a strong push to begin the fourth quarter in Toronto. They did the opposite, watching as the Raptors jumped out to a 15-2 run in just under five minutes of play. It was a complete catastrophe for the Sixers, who appear to be doing nothing particularly well on either end of the floor through a pair of games.

    The most troubling aspect of the Sixers’ losses — particularly Friday night’s no-show…

    Maxey can’t get things going offensively

    Maxey is an All-Star point guard with an extensive track record of being a terrific offensive player, but the Sixers are going to need him to score efficiently when Embiid and George are sidelined. The team’s aggressiveness in managing Embiid’s workload has already become a source of tremendous controversy; George will experience lighter monitoring but still not necessarily be available on a nightly basis during the regular season. All of that heightens the importance of Maxey’s efficiency as the focal point.

    During his NBA career, Maxey has displayed remarkable stamina, which has enabled him to log massive minutes totals. But that is even more taxing when you are the team’s only consistent perimeter scorer and not exactly in midseason form with the season just having started.

    Maxey’s 10-for-31 shooting performance against Milwaukee was a tough watch, but he was the victim of many bad bounces on shots that usually fall. In this one, he posted one of the worst shooting performances of his career — and most of his misses were not even close. Maxey also looked exhausted for much of the second half, missing plenty of shots well short — including an airball — and getting beat on multiple back cuts where he just fell asleep.

    The final shooting line in this one for Maxey: 6-for-23. Simply put, the Sixers will need him to be a whole lot better moving forward.

    Up next: The Sixers finish up a quick, two-game road trip on Sunday afternoon when they face the Pacers. They will then return home for a pair of contests before heading out on a West Coast trip.

    Follow Adam on Twitter: @SixersAdam

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    Adam Aaronson

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  • Instant observations: Undermanned Sixers drop season opener to red-hot Bucks

    Instant observations: Undermanned Sixers drop season opener to red-hot Bucks

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    Finally, the Sixers began their season Wednesday night, playing host to Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard, Doc Rivers and the Milwaukee Bucks. The Bucks were without Khris Middleton, but the Sixers experienced far greater losses in Joel Embiid and Paul George.

    Right off the bat, a revamped Sixers roster led by head coach Nick Nurse had its depth tested. An upset win for the Sixers would have lifted spirits, but Lillard and co. had different ideas. Milwaukee was on the money from beyond the arc all night long, and the Sixers could not muster enough offense to match.

    Here is what stood out from the Sixers’ 124-109 loss, dropping them to 0-1 on the young season:

    Nurse goes with Eric Gordon and KJ Martin in his starting five

    Gordon became the clear favorite to start over Caleb Martin midway through the preseason — Nurse is excited about the floor spacing Gordon can provide that unit and thinks Caleb Martin can give bench lineups a necessary infusion of energy. Nurse said before the game that Martin is “clearly” one of the team’s five best players and that his minutes would reflect that.

    With George out, Nurse opted to go with KJ Martin, who has impressed and looked considerably more comfortable during all of training camp and preseason. Martin is a remarkable athlete, which lends itself to Nurse’s renewed emphasis on pushing the pace. The fifth-year wing serves as a quality defender across at least three positions and has become an impressive passer and decision-maker in short-roll situations. Whether or not KJ Martin can consistently knock down open threes moving forward will determine his long-term fate; he spent the summer working with a shooting coach and refined his hand placement in hopes of seeing better results.

    Early jitters on both sides to open season

    The first timeout of the game came about halfway through the first quarter, with the score knotted at 10. The teams shot a combined 7-24 from the field during that opening burst, including Tyrese Maxey knocking down his first look — a three — before missing his next five shot attempts.

    Elsewhere, Andre Drummond was dominant on the glass early, pulling six rebounds and turning one of his offensive boards into a bucket. Caleb Martin came off the bench a bit earlier than anticipated when Antetokounmpo got KJ Martin in foul trouble and immediately did exactly what Nurse said he hoped to see the former Heat wing do: crash the glass. Antetokounmpo failed to box out, and Caleb Martin turned it into a layup for Oubre. Caleb Martin’s offensive rebounding stood out early, an extremely encouraging sign for Nurse.

    As the Sixers’ primary scoring options, Maxey and Oubre were struggling early to put the ball in the basket, but strong defense from the Sixers — including an Antetokounmpo transition turnover forced by Gordon — made up for it.

    Some rotation questions answered

    The first substitution of the season was the aforementioned swap of Martins, but the next reserve to check in was Guerschon Yabusele. Yabusele replaced Oubre, allowing him to log a few minutes at power forward before Oubre returned to replace Drummond, sliding Yabusele up to the five.

    Yabusele’s first NBA shot attempt in many years was a wide open corner three, and he cashed it.

    As expected, Kyle Lowry checked in as well, replacing Gordon. Nurse will still have Maxey and Lowry share the floor a decent bit; he prefers having as many ball-handlers on the floor at once as possible.

    The one surprise was that Nurse opted to go with an eight-man rotation in the first half, choosing to not play any of his deeper reserves — most notably rookie Jared McCain. 

    Maxey shows aggression early

    Whenever Embiid and George are out — and that may not be an infrequent occurrence — the Sixers need Maxey to be as aggressive as possible scoring the ball. Nurse has spent the entirety of his time in Philadelphia getting on Maxey, telling the All-Star point guard that he can continue to increase his scoring volume.

    Maxey only shot 3-11 from the field in the first quarter, but just that amount of shot attempts alone is exactly what Nurse continues to long for on a consistent basis.

    To top it off, Maxey gave the Sixers a 23-22 lead at the first-quarter buzzer after putting together a nasty series of moves.

    Ultimately, the Sixers’ early offense looked like that of a team with several new pieces that was missing an MVP candidate and a nine-time All-Star. This is all a work in progress.

    Another note on Maxey: it was clear that a focus for him during the offseason was regaining the sort of comfort in between the three-point line and restricted area that he had when he first entered the league, and he had quite a few shot attempts in the mid-range area early on, including this floater:

    Maxey was far too reliant on his floater when he entered the NBA, but abandoning it entirely was not necessarily the ideal pivot. Perhaps it will return to his arsenal in his fifth professional season.

    Bucks make a run to end first half

    The last several minutes of the second quarter were not kind to the Sixers. First, their offense stagnated — predictably, this was most apparent while Maxey rested — then they finally strung together some strong offensive possessions but saw Milwaukee get hot from beyond the arc. 

    Perhaps a larger issue was the Sixers repeatedly committing fouls on the defensive end. By the time intermission had arrived, Drummond, KJ Martin and Oubre each had three fouls, while Yabusele — who banked in a shot to beat the second-quarter buzzer — had two.

    The Sixers have made a calculated risk in embracing athleticism and positional versatility instead of size and strength. That trade-off provides plenty of positive results, but it also makes them susceptible to the occasional bully-ball bucket or easy foul-drawing against a team like Milwaukee that has tremendous muscle across the board.

    In addition to Antetokounmpo posting 11 points, eight rebounds and four assists in just 15 first-half minutes, Bobby Portis torched the Sixers’ second unit to the tune of 13 points, three rebounds and three assists in the game’s opening 24 minutes.

    MORE: NBA to investigate Sixers re: Joel Embiid

    Looking for a spark, Nurse goes to Ricky Council IV, but Milwaukee push persists

    By the halfway point of the third quarter, boos were beginning to get louder in South Philadelphia as the Bucks continued to rain triples. Milwaukee increased its lead to 18, and Nurse decided to try changing the pace of the game a bit by going to Ricky Council IV. Council did not do enough during training camp and preseason to earn a regular rotation role, but the Sixers still see real potential with the second-year wing. At the moment, this role is probably his optimal one: not a player who is relied on for nightly contributions, but is around when the energy needs to shift.

    There was a moment when the building had juice again — Yabsuele converted an and-one thanks to a great dish from Lowry, and the Sixers forced a Bucks turnover. But Maxey was blocked at the rim by Brook Lopez and Lillard drew a foul, then Yabusele got called for a moving screen and Lillard knocked down his fifth triple of the night. Suddenly, Milwaukee’s lead was back up to 17.

    For what it’s worth, Council did knock down a three on his first shot attempt of the season, a spot-up attempt from the left wing. A barrage of Lillard threes came before it, though, putting the Sixers in a major hole.

    Sixers struggle at the free throw line

    The Sixers led the NBA in free throws made per game while also being second-best in free throw percentage in 2023-24, but that is powered by a legendary foul-drawer in Embiid. On Wednesday night, they struggled at the line. By the time the third quarter was over, they had already missed eight free throws (15-23).

    When you are short-handed to the degree the Sixers were without Embiid and George and you are facing a team that is red-hot from beyond the arc, there is no margin for error at the free throw line. This is not exactly an indicator of a long-term problem, but it is a frustrating one to deal with when so many things are already working against a team.

    Strong night for Sixers bench

    There was not a ton to be excited about from an offensive perspective for the Sixers for much of this game, but they did see three reserves give them healthy doses of scoring. Caleb Martin and Yabusele were each in double-figures while also playing strong defense and doing a little bit of everything else, while Lowry was a calming presence with his ball-handling, passing and three-point shooting.

    Too often, the Sixers were unable to play quality offense for more than a few possessions in a row, but their best spurts on that end of the floor came when Lowry was in the game. 

    A wild stat on Lowry’s longevity, courtesy of the Sixers:

    Lowry is a future Hall of Fame inductee, and it is pretty cool that the Philadelphia native and Villanova product could end his playing career with his hometown team.

    Despite a valiant effort, Sixers have too little too late

    The Sixers were able to make a few brief runs in the fourth quarter, but Maxey’s subpar performance in combination with Milwaukee’s three-point excellence and the Sixers’ lack of offensive firepower beyond their All-Star point guard was enough for plenty of folks to be hitting the exits with four minutes or so left in the game.

    There was a decent amount to like from the short-handed Sixers, but a whole lot more to be concerned about.

    Up next: The Sixers will travel to Toronto, where they have a Friday night matchup against the rebuilding Raptors. 

    Follow Adam on Twitter: @SixersAdam

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    Adam Aaronson

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  • What to Expect From Sixers’ Season – Philadelphia Sports Nation

    What to Expect From Sixers’ Season – Philadelphia Sports Nation

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    Last year, the Sixers finished the season with the 7th seed in the Easter conference. Earlier in the season, they projected to finish with a much higher seed since they went 31-8 in games with Joel Embiid. Due to injury, Embiid missed most of the season so they finished with a 47-35 record. Now that Embiid wants to prioritize rest and load management, what kind of record can we expect them to have?

    Guaranteed Games without Embiid

    Embiid has stated that he will not play in back to backs ever in his career. This season the Sixers have 15 back to back games scheduled, and Embiid is already slated to miss the first three games. That totals up to 64 games played by itself with no additional injuries/soreness. We know Embiid will not stay healthy even with that limited schedule. Realistically, Embiid will probably miss another 10-15 games due to injuries and such. Maybe more if this knee thing is worse than their saying (which is extremely possible – maybe likely). Combining that with the back to backs brings us to around 57 games this season without any serious injuries. That’s a lot of games.

    How Will They Play Without Embiid?

    Like I said, the Sixers went 31-8 in the 39 games with him last year. That averages out to a record of 61-21 which would have put them at the two seed in the East.

    That being said, without Embiid, they went 16-27 in games without them. This resulted in them finishing with the seventh seed and almost missing the playoffs.

    If we translate that winning percentage (41.8%) into the 25 games that Embiid will hypothetically miss, and the 57 games that he hopefully plays in with last year’s percentage (74.2%), they would total up to a record of 52-30. That also would have put them at second in the conference last year.

    Obviously that is hypothetical math, but if they do the exact same thing as last year they will still contend heavily in the standings. They should do even better than that.

    Much Improved Roster

    With the signing of Paul George, Caleb Martin, Guerschon Yabusele, Andre Drummond, and the (almost just as beneficial) loss of Tobias Harris, the Sixers should do better than they last year in games without Embiid. George specifically should be able to alleviate a lot of pressure on Embiid which could keep him healthier to play more games. If that happens, then the Sixers should be able to compete for a number one seed this season.

     

     

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    Collin Benjamin

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