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: Andre Drummond, whose return to Philadelphia was a major letdown in 2024-25. Drummond signed a two-year, $10 million contract with the Sixers to stabilize the backup center position behind Joel Embiid. Instead, he did the opposite. Drummond battled injuries all year and looked like a shell of his former self when on the floor. Can he salvage his second run with the Sixers by rebounding (literally and figuratively) in 2025-26?
SIXERS PLAYER PREVIEWS
Jared McCain | Justin Edwards | VJ Edgecombe | Kyle Lowry | Kelly Oubre Jr. | Johni Broome | Adem Bona | Andre Drummond
How much was Drummond's toe injury limiting his mobility?
On Dec. 23, a season full of lunacy reached peak lunacy. Drummond was ejected from a game because an official thought he had pushed Victor Wembanyama even though Wembanyama had tripped. After the San Antonio Spurs had made a technical free throw, the official apologized, took the point off the board and reinstated Drummond. Embiid was ejected moments later by the same official. It was a wild night:
More importantly than any of this, it turned out, was Drummond injuring his left big toe during the second half of the same game. A left big toe contusion does not sound serious, but as Drummond would end up saying well over two months later, "I didn't realize how much you needed a big toe."
Drummond only played in 16 of the Sixers' final 55 games after that chaotic San Antonio battle. The toe injury continued to linger, and every time the Sixers felt it was in the past it would pop back up. Drummond was not effective before his injury, but his mobility looked noticeably bad for much of the season and it got a lot worse in his sporadic late-season appearances.
Speaking at his exit interview in April, Drummond did not outwardly suggest that the toe injury had directly led to diminished performance. (Drummond is also not necessarily one to acknowledge diminished performance.) But he expressed confidence that his toe would be feeling a whole lot better by this time of the year:
“I'll be fine. It's just one of those freak things that requires rest," Drummond said. "I can't muscle through something like that. I've tried, and my body was rejecting it. So it's just something I have to sit down with and allow it to heal and I'll be fine.”
MORE: VJ Edgecombe talks offseason work, season ahead with PhillyVoice
Will Drummond get back to posting elite rebounding numbers?
Drummond has never been a perfect player. But for about a decade, one thing has been constant: Drummond producing as the best rebounder in the NBA on a per-possession basis. On Media Day last year, Drummond proudly stated that he was the "best rebounder to ever play this game," then asked reporters in attendances if they would like him to record that claim before repeating it.
The weirdest part of Drummond's down season in 2024-25 was that his rebounding numbers were simply outstanding, not the usual legendary. By just about any measure this was his worst rebounding season by a substantial margin in this decade. Some of those numbers:
Year Rebounding percentage Defensive rebounding percentage Offensive rebound percentage
2021-22 26.2% 34.1% 18.0%
2022-23 29.6% 40.2% 18.7%
2023-24 29.3% 37.4% 21.5%
2024-25 23.4% 31.6% 15.8%
Drummond is a non-shooter, a suspect rim protector, rarely blocks shots and is shockingly inefficient for someone with his shot diet. It might not sound like that big of a deal for him to go from a Hall of Fame-caliber rebounder to an excellent one, but that margin is substantial given Drummond's lack of other skills.
Prediction
Drummond looks closer to being a viable center than he did in 2024-25, but is not productive enough to consistently contribute. He is traded before the deadline, either to facilitate a rotation upgrade for the Sixers or help the team duck the luxury tax threshold again.
Drummond has openly stated that he is eager to stick around in Philadelphia and help the Sixers finally get over the hump, but the harsh reality entering the upcoming season is that he will be a prime candidate to be traded by February whether the team is successful or not.
If the Sixers are winning games, they will pursue rotation upgrades at the trade deadline. The Sixers are extremely likely to exceed the first apron; if that comes to be the Sixers will not be able to take back more money than they send out in any trade. Drummond's $5 million expiring salary, then, becomes a pivotal device to increase financial flexibility. The lopsided nature of the Sixers' cap sheet will make it very hard for the team to get better via trades without moving Drummond, and the same could be true for Kelly Oubre Jr. and his $8.3 million expiring deal.
If the Sixers are not winning games, they should be expected to maneuver below the luxury tax threshold yet again. The team is barely below the tax line right now; any Quentin Grimes contract will take them over the tax. How far above the line they are during the season will depend on how much money Grimes ends up making in 2025-26. But the Sixers could decide to abort the mission and save a lot of money. The easiest path to getting that done would be dumping Drummond.
The veteran center was pleased to make it through a full season with the organization this time around, but it might not happen again.
MORE: Why should anyone care about the Sixers?
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