In two days, the 2025-26 Sixers season will officially be underway.
They will play a game that counts Wednesday night, a road battle against the Boston Celtics. The entire picture ahead of that game is becoming a bit clearer after the Sixers' preseason finale, which head coach Nick Nurse was able to treat as a dress rehearsal.
The Sixers will not be at full strength on Wednesday; Jared McCain will definitely not play while Paul George and Trendon Watford both seem extremely unlikely to suit up. But everything is going according to plan for Joel Embiid, and the former NBA MVP appears set to start on Wednesday.
But who will start next to Embiid? Which players will come off the bench to support him? How many games will Embiid play in to begin the season? In this week's 5 Sixers thoughts, answering those questions and more:
Adem Bona is becoming vital to this team's success
Nurse's rotation could shake out in a bunch of different ways on Wednesday. No matter where he lands with the key decisions that still must be made, Bona is clearly an enormous piece within all of this.
There is arguably no backup center spot more pivotal than the one in Philadelphia, where Embiid is a safe bet to miss many games. And when Embiid does play, the Sixers have generally struggled to survive when he is off the floor.
If that responsibility was not enough, Bona is clearly going to at least be part of Nurse's short-term plan to find a solution at power forward. George and Watford might have entered the season with expectations of being the two most important pieces at the position; now the group is so thin that Nurse is likely banking on Embiid and Bona being a viable duo. Nurse first unveiled the concept last weekend at the Blue X White Scrimmage, then acknowledged it was an arrangement in which he had significant interest. Embiid and Bona started together in the team's final preseason game, but only shared the floor for three minutes and change.
Embiid has traditionally been surrounded by as much shooting as possible. Now, the Sixers are trying out a different look and opting for Bona's size, rim protection and rebounding at the expense of floor spacing. Bona will occupy the dunker spot, forcing Embiid to be more reliant on his perimeter game offensively. It would still behoove the Sixers to surround those two centers with as much three-point shooting as possible. Defensively, the Sixers could have Bona roam off of poor perimeter shooters to keep Embiid closer to the basket or try out unique zone coverages to keep them both around the rim.
Bona first found out at the start of training camp that he and Embiid playing together was in consideration, he said after the Sixers completed their practice on Sunday. Earning that kind of role has been a personal goal ever since he was drafted by the team, and his excitement about the possibility is clear. Bona is working hard to make it something Embiid can be just as optimistic about.
"I feel like it's just a learning process and [about] communication," Bona said. "And I try to talk to him as much as possible and I try to understand what he wants from me and how I can make it easier for him on the floor."
MORE: Bona riding EuroBasket momentum into second NBA season
Who will be the fifth starter?
With that being said, will Bona start alongside Embiid in Boston? It is certainly in play; Bona was one of seven players seen after the team's practice on Sunday wearing one of blue jerseys typically given to players on the first team in five-on-five scrimmaging.
Those seven players: Embiid, Bona, George, Dominick Barlow, Kelly Oubre Jr., VJ Edgecombe and Tyrese Maxey. The latter three players all appear locked into starting spots in front of Embiid. George is not expected to play in Boston as of this writing, but is getting closer to being ready. It appears Nurse is initially shying away from starting Quentin Grimes with Maxey and Edgecombe, which leaves the last spot in Boston for Barlow and Bona.
Barlow also spoke to the media after Sunday's practice, and he has done an enormous amount to bolster his stock over the last few weeks. Nurse highlighted the 22-year-old as an early standout after the very first day of official team activities, and all Barlow has done is reinforce what Nurse said about him on Sep. 27.
"Dominick Barlow is standing out early on here," Nurse said. "He's just really on the glass and making some shots and playing extremely hard. He was just involved in a lot of good stuff."
All preseason long Barlow turned heads with stellar rebounding, and that alone has powered him into a surefire rotation role despite his status as a two-way player. Barlow has three years of NBA experience under his belt, and it is evident through his play and his words that he has a keen understanding of what he needs to do here.
"I'm not coming in here to try to lead the league in scoring," Barlow said on Sunday. "I'm coming here to help this team win."
It stands to reason that both Barlow and Bona will share the floor with Embiid on Wednesday, and maybe it will not end up mattering much which one does it first. Barlow should log more minutes at power forward than Bona, who will likely be playing the five whenever Embiid is off the floor. If the team's starting unit struggles offensively early on, it will be interesting to see if Nurse considers going much smaller by replacing Bona or Barlow with Grimes.
The state of the power forward position
It would have been hard to believe just three weeks ago that this close to opening night, Barlow and Bona would be at the forefront of conversations about what the Sixers will do at the four. They are not the only players expected to contribute there, now or in the future. Some notes on other matters power forward:
• Trendon Watford still has a hamstring injury which has limited him ever since camp opened. The Sixers initially said Watford was day-to-day; more than three weeks later he has just reached the point of participating in practices in a partial capacity. It is hard to imagine Watford being ready for Boston, and it is a shame for a player who many expected to take advantage of a tremendous opportunity at the four. Watford still will have every chance to thrive whenever he is healthy, and Nurse is a huge fan of his unique skills at a 6-foot-9 ball-handler. Nurse is enjoying the chance to weaponize his dynamic guards off the ball, and Watford can become a huge part of that eventually. For now, he is still a ways away; Watford's limited participation in Sunday's practice included five-on-zero and some drills but no five-on-five action.
• Jabari Walker was the two-way player many expected to force his way into the rotation mix at the four. Barlow's emergence should not lead people to completely forget about Walker, who also comes with three years of NBA experience and tremendous self-awareness. Walker relishes the opportunity to star in a role, and if things click he can do just that here.
In an interview with PhillyVoice on Oct. 8, Walker talked at length about his growth as a short-roll decision-maker, a spot he could often find himself in when playing alongside Maxey.
"I like being in that area between the perimeter and the basket," Walker said. "I have the big as a lob [threat] and then I see the weakside corner and things like that. And then there's the floater and the jumpshot. There's so many options. So being a playmaker and things like that, I kind of like being in that position."
Walker's short-roll passing chops showed up on a few occasions during the preseason. He lit up when asked if it has been a skill he has utilized in practice.
“Actually, a bunch," Walker said. "And guys have been recognizing it even more than me. They've been telling me to go, and they're like, ‘You're so good in that position. Go set a quick screen and get out of there and make a play. You're a good playmaker.’ Even Kyle Lowry said that today. I was like, ‘Dang, I didn't even realize there were so many opportunities to get to that action.’ So that's definitely something I'm looking forward to doing more.”
MORE: Walker relying on 'foundation' provided by 10-year NBA veteran father Samaki
One more player headed to Delaware
Before circling back to Embiid, a bookkeeping matter of sorts: When the Sixers waived Kennedy Chandler, MarJon Beauchamp, Saint Thomas and Malcolm Hill on Saturday, they also signed and then waved DeAndre Williams. All five players were inked to Exhibit 10 contracts, setting them up to join the Sixers' G League affiliate, the Delaware Blue Coats.
Chandler, Thomas and Hill were with the Sixers for the entirety of training camp and preseason; Beauchamp joined in the final days. Williams was signed purely for the purposes of heading to Delaware. Each of the players can earn a decent signing bonus of sorts if they spend at least 60 days in Delaware.
Williams is a tall, lanky forward whose four-year collegiate career started with a season at Evansville and ended with three seasons at Memphis. He played 100 collegiate games (95 starts), averaging 14.3 points and 6.8 rebounds per game. He spent last season overseas.
Looking ahead for Joel Embiid
Embiid's knee was in a good enough place to play in an exhibition game on Sunday and participate in a "heavy" practice with zero limitations two days later. As was made clear last season, everything can change at a moment's notice, but the Sixers clearly have designs on Embiid playing in Boston and going from there.
What does the "going from there" actually look like? The Sixers have two days off in between the season opener in Boston on Wednesday and their home opener on Saturday night against the Charlotte Hornets. Two days later, the Sixers host the Orlando Magic, a team with a chance of becoming a perennial Eastern Conference power starting as soon as this season. Certainly, the Sixers would like to have their best player on the floor for such a game.
Barring any injuries or setbacks, the first real decision comes after that, and it might not be much of a decision: the day after hosting Orlando, the Sixers will travel to Washington, D.C. and face the young Wizards. Playing Embiid in both legs of any back-to-back feels foolish, particularly this early in the season against such a lowly opponent. If all goes well, that game Oct. 28 should be the first one Embiid misses.
MORE: Embiid's return provides the Sixers hope – and Embiid some relief
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