After a Wednesday night win in which everyone’s stat line looked good, let’s not get anything twisted. The Sixers are a mediocre team this season. They played one of the most dysfunctional teams in the NBA and scored 157 points. They’ve had plenty of low points this year too that have proven that they are exactly what they’re record says they are and I don’t think much is changing during the next 3-5 weeks as the season concludes.
So why is this season a successful one? Well, VJ Edgecombe looks like a future star and that’s really all that matters this season. At this time last year, Philly was in an unexpected race to the bottom of the standings in an effort to retain a top-six protected draft pick that no one would have thought it had a chance to retain when the 2024-25 season started. Once the season went sideways, the possibility of drafting high in what appeared to be a decent draft looked like light at the end of the tunnel.
The future for Joel Embiid looked very bleak and while Embiid has certainly shown some more bright spots this season than anticipated, it’s still probably safe to say that his better days are behind him. Therefore, Philly was in desperate need of some more high-end talent that would allow for the franchise’s future to brighten. In keeping their draft pick last season and selecting Edgecombe, it appears that’s exactly what the Sixers got.
Opponent be damned, Edgecombe’s +32 rating in Wednesday’s victory over Chicago was stellar as he went on to score a very efficient 22 points and add six rebounds and six assists. He’s given the Sixers nights at or close to his statistical output Wednesday with a rather high frequency. As we sit here in late March, I think we can all agree Edgecombe is a long-term building block for the future of the franchise.
Suddenly, how bad does that future look? Between Edgecombe and Tyrese Maxey, Philly is going to have one of the NBA’s most exciting backcourts for a while. Embiid still looks like he can contribute at a high-level to at least be a starter on a contending team. Should the Sixers be able to get off of Paul George’s contract this summer, fans might be singing a rather optimistic tune heading into 2026-27 and that’s a far cry from where we were at this time last year.
Looking beyond next season to the times when we can guarantee both George and Embiid’s hefty contracts are no longer hampering whoever is running the front office, the Sixers are still going to have Maxey and Edgecombe at that point which should make them an attractive destination for free agents towards the end of the decade and into the 2030s.
Now there might be some of you that are reading this and thinking, “So, I’m supposed to be excited about the fact that I have to wait even longer for another contending Sixers team?” I get it. Things might not get drastically better for the Sixers overnight, but they do have a lot of roster spots open for next season before you even consider the possibility of George’s contract being moved so it’s not impossible to see Philly in the top half of the East as early as next season. Heck, for as mediocre as this season has felt, the Sixers could still finish fifth in the conference heading into the playoffs and that wouldn’t surprise anyone.
The last thing I’d ask any Sixers fan that’s been upset with this season or is just largely apathetic towards the state of the franchise is how else would you have measured success in 2025-26? One year ago, the Sixers looked like a team saddled with two bad contracts to Embiid and George and left with no way out. Embiid has bounced back relatively well and more importantly, Edgecombe looks like a budding superstar. Maybe it’s a stretch to say the future of the franchise is suddenly very bright, but it’s certainly not dark either.
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