Before the 2025-26 season began, there was a sector of Sixers fans who wondered what the team’s tanking path could look like with Joel Embiid and Paul George both recovering from knee surgeries. There were some who pondered what the team could get for Tyrese Maxey in a trade. Others even thought about using Jared McCain as a throw-in to move up in the NBA Draft instead of selecting VJ Edgecombe.
Considering all of that, a 13-10 start to the campaign feels … promising?
Now, nobody should be planning to march down Broad St. The Sixers are middle of the pack when it comes to offensive, defensive and net rating. They sit in seventh in the East. They look more like a team that will hover a little over .500 and flirt with a potential sixth seed than a real contender.
But with Tyrese Maxey playing at an All-NBA level and more depth than they’ve had in a long time, what would it take for the Sixers to be more? The answer likely comes from within — in a literal sense, though one could argue a spiritual one as well.
If Maxey is this team’s Batman, he’s going to need a Robin. And maybe a Nightwing, too. (Given Maxey’s affinity for Marvel, he’d likely prefer to be called Spider-Man and say the Avengers need to assemble around him.) With a trade for a franchise-altering player being unlikely, the team will need to find that answer inside the organization. The team essentially has four wildcards in that department: Joel Embiid, Paul George, Jared McCain and VJ Edgecombe.
Embiid and George are the most obvious candidates here. They’re on max contracts and have a combined 16 All-Star appearances between them. The obvious issue is health. Will either be healthy enough consistently enough to make that level of impact?
Embiid struggled mightily from the floor in the most recent loss to Los Angeles, but he did seem to be moving better defensively, especially late in the game. The Sixers likely don’t win in Milwaukee last week against the Bucks without George, but the veteran forward was most invisible against the Lakers. There are moments where it looks like it could all work … if they stay healthy. (Understood if your first thought is Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown). It’s so hard to count on that, but it would be the easiest way for the Sixers to go from a play-in berth to having home-court advantage in a playoff series.
With McCain and Edgecombe, the issue isn’t health, though both have missed time this season. The impediments are age and experience. McCain will turn 22 in February, while Edgecombe won’t turn 21 until the offseason. We’ve seen significant flashes from both players — bright enough for you to dream on what they can become.
We saw what McCain can do last season during an incredibly impressive 12-game stretch. He looked like he was going to run away with the Rookie of the Year award before suffering a torn meniscus. Nothing about that stretch felt flukey, either. The Sixers faced real competition and they were still trying to win games. He’s been up and down while coming off knee and thumb surgeries, and his size and lack of elite athleticism have clearly given Nick Nurse pause to play him big minutes. At some point, though, you have to let McCain loose and see if he can find last season’s magic again.
As for Edgecombe, his scoring output has dipped after a ridiculous start. A calf injury also set him back a bit. He’s still playing extremely well for a rookie in his position. The Sixers are asking him to do a lot defensively, on the glass and as the team’s backup point guard. He’s handling those responsibilities remarkably well and still helping the Sixers win. Can he rediscover some of that scoring from his fantastic start? If he does, it could change the Sixers’ outlook in a big way.
The Sixers have been fun. They’re playing fast and hard and have generally been in every game this season. With what it felt like going into the year, that alone feels like a decent outcome. And if all they provide is some version of what we’ve already seen — a decent team getting Maxey heaters and inconsistent play from the four aforementioned guys — that’s a far better outcome than many were preparing for before the season began.
But if one (or more) of those four guys can truly pop, 2025-26 could become a lot more interesting.
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