The Sixers could have Joel Embiid back on Tuesday night when they host the Orlando Magic, and Embiid's co-stars Tyrese Maxey and Paul George are both listed as probable to suit up for NBA Cup Group Play action.
This picture is not yet fully idealized – VJ Edgecombe and Kelly Oubre Jr. are among the Sixers who will remain sidelined – but the Sixers have been able to start their season with a 9-7 record despite a flurry of high-profile absences and a few heartbreaking losses at the ends of games.
With 16 games in the books, what should we be making of this team and its upside? What has stood out about their extensive time playing without Embiid? How might the roster change in the months ahead?
Diving into all of that in another Sixers mailbag:
*From @Boston_Conner:*Do you realistically think this team will be a top-six seed and avoid the Play-In Tournament? With how safe they’re being on Paul George and Joel Embiid, plus the other injuries the 76ers are having, do we have the depth and firepower for a full 82-game season?
Entering Tuesday’s action, the Sixers find themselves in the No. 7 seed of an Eastern Conference with little separation between many teams. The Sixers only have a 0.5-game advantage over the No. 10 seed Boston Celtics and only trail the No. 3 seed Miami Heat by two games. With the Cleveland Cavaliers and New York Knicks both experiencing some growing pains early on, it has been the Detroit Pistons who look like the powerhouse of the conference, with resurgent teams in the Toronto Raptors and Miami joining them at the top of the standings.
There is an enormous amount of time left in the marathon that is an 82-game season, but the Sixers clearly have enough talent to conceivably earn a top-six seed and an ensuing playoff berth. But will they do it? Miami and Toronto sustaining their stellar starts to the season complicates the picture quite a bit; those who expressed preseason optimism about the Sixers’ playoff aspirations did so in part because of how barren the Eastern Conference was supposed to be. Two high-quality teams emerging in surprise makes it harder for the Sixers to coast their way to one of the six best records in the conference.
Do the Sixers have enough depth to get through the season despite Embiid and George’s constant availability questions? In the conference they are in, the Sixers’ guard play alone is probably enough to give them a Play-In Tournament floor. It would not be unreasonable to feel that a postseason appearance of some sort should be considered the bare minimum given the talent that exists on the Sixers’ roster and the lack of depth in their conference even after accounting for Miami and Toronto’s unexpected growth.
For now, the safest bet is probably the Sixers being on the high end of the Play-In Tournament, in the No. 7 or No. 8 slot, where just one win would secure them a playoff spot. The Sixers were the No. 7 seed two years ago because of Embiid’s injury issues, then got him back and beat the No. 8 seed Heat in an epic Play-In Tournament game before losing to the No. 2 seed New York Knicks in a tremendous six-game series that could have easily gone either way.
Not having to win an extra game for your playoff spot is ideal. But in this version of the Eastern Conference, a Play-In Tournament participant could very easily make a deep playoff run if they have the right pieces in place. It is not the inherent death knell that it is seen as in the Western Conference.
MORE: Jared McCain surging, new backup center options emerging
*From @Phillyfloyd:*When you remove Embiid, what is this team’s biggest weakness currently? Half-court creation? Post defense?
The Sixers’ most obvious weakness when Embiid is sidelined is also the biggest drawback that has come with playing a hobbled version of the former NBA MVP: the lack of a true defensive anchor.
For much of his career, Embiid’s presence alone has guaranteed an elite defense whenever he was on the floor. As he tries to regain mobility and trust in his left knee, Embiid has been a significant negative as a defender in 2025-26, though there is no reason he cannot return to being a top-flight rim protector if that range of motion comes back.
When Embiid is sidelined, the issue persists, even if it presents itself in different ways. Adem Bona is a terrific shot-blocker, but he has missed time and his offense has been so troublesome that his defensive production is not as valuable. Bona is also not nearly good enough of a defensive rebounder to be a consistent anchor on that end of the floor just yet.
Meanwhile, Andre Drummond is one of the best rebounders of all time — the greatest ever if you ask him — but has never been much of a shot-blocker or a rim protector. Multiple teammates have recently credited Drummond’s communication on the back line, and he has been on the floor for much of the time in which they have staged a defensive turnaround in recent games. But over a decade of numbers and film suggest Drummond is not a trusted defensive anchor.
However, it would be malpractice not to mention half-court scoring, where even though Maxey is playing like a full-blown superstar, the Sixers have often found themselves desperate for more offensive firepower in Embiid’s absence.
Embiid may no longer be the otherworldly, unstoppable scoring machine he once was, but he remains a high-volume and high-efficiency player whose ability to draw fouls is a particularly crucial stabilizing force on the offensive end. The Sixers are better suited to handle Embiid’s absences on the offensive end now than they perhaps have ever been, but there have been many times over the last two-plus weeks when it was obvious how much easier life was for Maxey and co. when the ultimate crutch is out there.
MORE: Unpacking Sixers lineup and on-off data, focused on Maxey
*From @zmoseCOD:*If they convert Dominick Barlow and Jabari Walker to standard contracts now, can they use the “new” two-way spots and 60 remaining games of availability on others? If we know that they are NBA-ready, what is the downside of converting now vs. later?
For those not up to speed, a breakdown of the facts that are being referred to here:
Players signed to two-way contracts before the season can be active for up to 50 NBA games, but teams can only have a two-way player active 90 times while they are below 15 players on their standard roster. The Sixers entered the season with an open roster spot, so every time they have one of Barlow, Walker or Hunter Sallis active, it not only counts against that player's limit of 50 games but the team's limit of 90 games while under 15 players.
The Sixers have had Walker active in all 16 games so far, while Barlow and Sallis have each been active seven times. That means Walker has 34 games of availability left and Barlow and Sallis each have 43 games remaining, but the Sixers only have 60 more chances to activate a two-way player unless they fill their open roster spot.
So, to get back to your first question: if Barlow or Walker gets converted now, a two-way spot would open up, and the Sixers could sign a new two-way player who would be given a prorated number of games of availability based on the date they sign (they would be available for about 60 percent of remaining games). But because the Sixers would then be at 15 players on their standard roster, the fact that they have used 30 two-way days while under 15 players would be irrelevant unless they waived another player to get back under 15. The complex 90-day rule would no longer matter here; the lone focus would be each player's individual availability number.
On your second question: since they have an open roster spot, the Sixers could conceivably convert Barlow or Walker as soon as Tuesday morning if they really wanted to. They have not touched their mid-level exception, so they are positioned to get a long-term contract done rather than a rest-of-season deal whenever the conversion takes place, which is a major boon in itself. But do not expect it to happen soon; even if the Sixers become resolute that both players need to be kept around moving forward, they should be expected to exhaust Walker and Barlow's two-way availability before performing the conversion.
There is not an enormous downside that comes with converting Barlow or Walker now. But generally speaking, teams prefer to wait until a player's two-way availability is dwindling so that their eventual cap hit on their standard contract is deflated for the year. It does not have any impact on dollars in the ensuing season should the team sign the player to a multi-year deal, but for teams like the Sixers, who are projected to surpass the luxury tax threshold, it is an easy way to save money without really losing anything.
Because Barlow missed multiple weeks with an elbow injury, the Sixers were able to save some of his activation days. It probably lines up Walker to get converted first. It lines the Sixers up to be very close to the trade deadline by the time they have exhausted the availability of those two players, depending on how strict they are in choosing when to give Sallis nights to dress.
Whether the Sixers end up as buyers, sellers or somewhere in the middle come the winter, the expectation should be that they at least make one trade. If that ends up being a deal where they consolidate two pieces for a rotation upgrade or even a salary dump, it will create the second open roster spot that will eventually be needed for both of Walker and Barlow to get standard contracts. Unless the Sixers make a surprising early-season trade, I would expect any conversions from two-way deals to standard contracts to wait until late January or early February.
MORE: Samaki Walker provided son Jabari with a 'foundation' to chase NBA dreams
Follow Adam on Twitter: @SixersAdam
Follow PhillyVoice on Twitter: @thephillyvoice