*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: Johni Broome, the No. 35 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. Broome is one of the most accomplished collegiate basketball players of the decade, and despite a typical preference for younger prospects the Sixers made a bet on a player whose 23rd birthday came weeks after the draft. Broome might feel like a long shot to contribute in 2025-26, but much crazier things have happened.
SIXERS PLAYER PREVIEWS
Jared McCain | Justin Edwards | VJ Edgecombe | Kyle Lowry | Kelly Oubre Jr. | Johni Broome
What position will Broome be focused on playing?
At the 2025 NBA Draft Combine, Broome measured at just over 6-foot-9 without shoes, weighing 249.4 pounds. His proponents would say he has what it takes in terms to play power forward or center at the next level. Skeptics of Broome's prospects, meanwhile, would argue that he does not have enough mobility to play the four or enough size to play the five. So, how will Broome's positional status be handled in his rookie year?
It is unlikely that the Sixers and their coaches will force Broome into one spot and completely ditch the idea of him ever helping out at the other one. It would be silly to willingly limit a young player's versatility from the outset of their career. Plus, the Sixers have clear potential needs at both of those positions. If Broome proves to be a viable rotation option at either spot, the team's outlook there would become noticeably more encouraging.
After the Sixers drafted Broome, PhillyVoice spoke with draft expert Maxwell Baumbach to learn more about the former Auburn star. He was much more optimistic about Broome's ability to stick as a four in the NBA, particularly because of the presence of Joel Embiid:
"I think Broome is a 'big who probably has to play with another big.' When Auburn played South Carolina this year, Collin Murray-Boyles was consistently able to win positioning and power battles on both ends of the floor. As a result, I worry about him playing the five against the league’s most imposing centers. Still, I think he’ll hold up against smaller bigs, and I adore the fit with him as a four next to Embiid. If you can put him in a lineup where he’s surrounded by shooters like Tyrese Maxey, Jared McCain, Paul George and Embiid, his playmaking out of the short roll will really shine through."
Broome mostly played power forward in NBA Summer League, but that was because Adem Bona was also on the team. Sixers President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey volunteered the idea in Las Vegas in July that Broome would play in the G League as a rookie. But the Sixers are only an injury or two away from Broome being on the fringes of head coach Nick Nurse's rotation by default. Where and how will they be most comfortable deploying him?
MORE: Two years after first meeting, Broome lands with Sixers
How is Broome's three-point shot going to come along?
If Broome is going to end up turning into a quality power forward in the NBA, he will almost certainly need to make significant strides as a three-point shooter. His necessary improvement from beyond the arc is something the Sixers told Broome about more than two years before they drafted him, during an interview at the 2023 NBA Draft Combine. In his final two collegiate campaigns after Broome's testing of the waters resulted in a return to school, Broome's shooting volume went up. His accuracy, however, did not.
Broome was outstanding during scrimmages at the combine in 2023. His head coach during those games, Rico Hines, is now an assistant coach for Nurse. Hines told PhillyVoice in July that he believes Broome has "done a good job of working on his three-point shot," and in a very small sample, Broome shot the ball very well in Summer League.
Broome's mechanics are neither perfect nor irreparable; the aesthetics of his release are not great but less problematic than how slow it is. He will not only have to improve his shot-making ability, but do it against faster contests by speeding up his own process.
Broome has to make an extremely difficult leap as a shooter. The Sixers seem confident in his work ethic and mental makeup, which bodes well for his chances. In a conversation with PhillyVoice in July, Broome expressed quiet confidence that he would get there.
"I have a lot of room to improve my jump shot," Broome said. "But I think by me putting in the time and putting up the shots, that it will improve."
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Prediction
Broome does not establish himself as a rotation-caliber big as a rookie, but he does enough to incite hope that he will do it in his sophomore campaign.
Expecting a second-round pick to be a rotation-caliber player at any position in the NBA as a rookie is a fool's errand. It happens, but is never something a team should be banking on in any capacity. It is hard enough for top picks to be positive-impact players.
It has been argued before -- including at PhillyVoice -- that because Broome will spend his rookie season at age 23, there is greater pressure on him to assert himself as a quality NBA player earlier on in his career than the average rookie. He is up to four years ahead of others members of his draft class in his developmental cycle, even if they are all entering the NBA at the same time.
One person who has disputed this notion, however, is Morey. He said the following in July:
"I've seen speculation, like, ‘Oh, Johni has to contribute right away.’ I don't really agree with that. I mean, it's a four-year runway. Even though he's older, I think it's pretty unlikely to expect any of these rookies to contribute right away. But I do think you'd hope he can get out there by the end of this year or year two. And a lot of that will probably come down to how he performs with the Blue Coats early."
Morey is certainly correct that Broome does not need to be a reliable piece as early as this April. No draft pick is made for the sake of finding an instant rotation upgrade. But it is difficult to argue that the clock is ticking a lot faster for Broome than many of the players selected in his region of the draft board.
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