It comes as no surprise that most of your questions revolved around Joel Embiid. He’s a former MVP and one of the best players on the planet when healthy. His ability or inability to play could change the entire course of the Sixers’ season.
He was able to participate on a limited basis at practice Tuesday, which was planned, according to the team. He did live 3-on-3 work Wednesday. Head coach Nick Nurse also could not rule out Embiid possibly playing in the team’s preseason finale on Friday.
Let’s get into your questions. (You also all just had a lot of comments, which is also great! Keep the discourse going.)
It’s likely not an accident that the Sixers haven’t uttered the phrase “ramp up” at all to start the 2025-26 season. A popular sort of alternative for Nurse has been “thresholds.” It’s all semantics.
The Sixers are in such a weird place. Anyone who confidently predicts them to be good or bad is telling on themselves. Most folks (myself included) have them hovering around .500 this season, largely because we don’t know so much. If things go right, they could make a little noise in the East. If things go wrong, they could be tanking to keep their top-four protected pick. The middle of those feels like the most probable outcome.
One important lesson I’ve learned as far as fans and expectations: I don’t gatekeep fandom. Feel how you feel. If you’re the type who wants to think of the best possible outcome and just enjoy the ups and downs of the season, great. If you like to prepare yourself for the worst-case scenario so you won’t be crushed by disappointment, also very fair. I would just say: Embiid and Paul George even potentially being ready for the season opener is better than the alternative.
About the idea of it being “the year,” I do get what you’re saying. Like if Embiid and PG can play 50ish games and be relatively healthy for the postseason, this could be their last crack at winning something meaningful. My sincere hope is that if the team is showing signs of life around the deadline, the front office makes a meaningful addition or two. Shedding salary to duck the tax during Embiid’s age-31 season and George’s age-35 season would be a massive, massive disappointment.
At this point, it looks like all systems go for VJ Edgecombe. My feeling is the hip issue wasn’t a big deal, but the team decided to take precautions over him playing a meaningless preseason game, much like they did with his hand issue during summer league. (Hey, maybe they’re learning!) I would be very surprised if Edgecombe isn’t in the starting lineup on opening night.
George was able to participate in live 3-on-3, full-court reps at practice Wednesday. Nurse said he looked good and when the team has done its post-practice 1-on-1s that have been open to the media, George has looked healthy and fluid. Maybe he’s not ready for opening night, but I don’t think he’s that far off … to the point where I wouldn’t close the door on him suiting up for the opener.
Obviously, Jared McCain will miss the beginning of the season, but he shouldn’t miss a ton of time. Trendon Watford is still dealing with hamstring tightness. It doesn’t sound like he’s particularly close to returning — which is a shame because it seemed like this could’ve been a big opportunity for him. Perhaps two-way signee Dominick Barlow will take advantage of the open minutes at the four.
For the opener, I would not be surprised if the Sixers have close to their full complement of rotation players. McCain is out. It seems like Watford will be. George might not play in Boston, but he isn’t far off. Beyond that, the only question mark is Embiid, who I believe is trending towards being available.
Think I’ve answered a variation of this question before, but I’ll answer again for folks who might’ve missed it.
Kyle Lowry is basically this team’s Udonis Haslem. He’s here to help guys like Maxey, McCain and Edgecombe while being a culture-setter. I think he plays sparingly this season and is never a regular part of the rotation.
Eric Gordon is here for similar reasons, but his shooting could help this team at some point. Look how much the Sixers struggled shooting in Abu Dhabi. They could use a guy like Gordon to help space the floor, especially while McCain is out. I know it went largely unseen because last season was terrible, but Maxey’s best stretch last season (in which he was genuinely awesome) occurred while sharing the backcourt with Gordon. That spacing could be necessary, but again, I do not foresee Gordon as a regular rotation player.