As the 2025-26 NBA season nears, national outlets have started rolling out expansive lists ranking the top 100 players in the association. It is a yearly tradition which, at this point, incites much more venomous debate than genuine interest.
If it was not already clear that the Sixers draw a wide variety of opinions around the NBA world, last week's release of the league's annual GM Survey demonstrated that quite well.
The lack of consensus about the Sixers' key players in national rankings will only bolster the argument that not a single person knows what to make of the 2025-26 Sixers. Across four lists devised by ESPN, The Ringer, Bleacher Report and CBS, the only Sixers to appear in rankings were Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Paul George. But there was not much of a consensus on any of those players.
A breakdown of where the Sixers' three highest-paid players landed on the four newly-released sets of rankings:
Tyrese Maxey
ESPN: 28
The Ringer: 33
Bleacher Report: 31
CBS Sports: 21
This batch of rankings represents the closest thing to a consensus that exists on any Sixers-centric opinion in the NBA right now: Maxey is a tremendous player, and even if he is never going to be the lone centerpiece of a contending team, he is clearly good enough to be one of the key pieces of a consistent winner.
CBS Sports' experts are clearly on the highest end of belief in Maxey, and writer Brad Botkin argued that the Sixers should be pivoting to building their team around him instead of Embiid:
"Only six players have averaged at least 26 points and six assists per game in each of the last two seasons. Maxey is one of them. The other five are a who's who of MVP candidates: Nikola Jokić, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Dončić and Jalen Brunson. That's the kind of company Maxey is in... The Sixers might be fooling themselves into thinking they're still a Joel Embiid team, but they aren't. This is Maxey's team. They should be building for him and on his timeline."
The Sixers have embraced a two-timeline approach to roster-building, and Maxey is the only player vital to both the organization's short-term championship aspirations and its goal of securing a promising long-term nucleus of players. For another few weeks, Maxey is only 24 years old. He could very well lead the NBA in minutes in his sixth season.
MORE: How much better can Maxey get?
Paul George
ESPN: 54
The Ringer: 71
Bleacher Report: 52
CBS Sports: 43
Once again, CBS ends up the most optimistic for a key Sixer. As far as the nine-time All-Star George is concerned, there is a whole lot of confusion about just how much production the team should expect to receive in exchange for the $162 million it owes him over the next three seasons.
The Ringer is on the low end here, and after George's disappointing debut season in Philadelphia it is hard to blame them. Will George play more than the 41 games he logged last year? Will he provide the sort of star-caliber offensive production that vanished last season after many, many years of effortless three-level scoring? The Ringer is pessimistic:
"George is still a long, smooth, two-way wing who can score from anywhere, guard anyone, and make the game look effortless when he’s locked in. The difference now is that the mileage has added up, and his max deal is clogging up the Sixers’ cap sheet while he’s mostly been absent from the lineup. Simply put: He’s gotta play more games, or else his time in Philly will be remembered as a debacle."
The idea of the Sixers getting as much from George as they are paying him for feels outlandish at this point. But he has everything he needs to remain a high-level rotation contributor, even if not a star.
MORE: Latest on George's continued recovery
Joel Embiid
ESPN: 47
The Ringer: not ranked
Bleacher Report: 26
CBS Sports: 26
Nobody knows what to make of the Sixers because nobody knows what to make of Embiid. A year ago, he was a consensus top-10 player. Now, some people are still holding out hope that he can be a superstar with suboptimal availability, some people are hoping for more games played even if at a lower level of production. And, based on The Ringer's ranking, some people have lost all hope.
ESPN serves as the midpoint here, and Tim Bontemps rightfully points out how difficult of a player Embiid is to forecast:
"It is almost impossible to rank Embiid after the former MVP played just 19 games last season. If he is back and healthy, he's obviously a top-10-caliber player, as he was for several seasons prior to 2024-25. But that's a very big if, particularly after how the past 18 months or so have gone in Philly."
As risky as it feels to suggest an extreme outcome – that Embiid is going to return to superstar heights, or that his days as a full-time NBA player are behind him – one of those turning true is just as likely as whatever middle ground feels like the most reasonable compromise.
MORE: Embiid plays in first public live action since February
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