After making the playoffs for seven straight years, the Sixers bottomed out in 2024/25 amid injuries to several key players, going just 24-58. With a little luck in the draft lottery, Philadelphia kept its protected first-round pick and moved up to No. 3, selecting former Baylor guard VJ Edgecombe.
As challenging as last season was, president of basketball operations Daryl Morey thinks the 76ers have an opportunity to make a significant move up the Eastern Conference standings in ’25/26 due to major injuries to star players and roster changes to rival teams, writes Tony Jones of The Athletic.
“I do think it’s open in the East,” Morey said in an extensive interview with select media from the Las Vegas Summer League. “I do think that’s a fair characterization. I do, obviously, think that we weren’t the only team that’s unfortunately gone through a lot of tough injuries. That’s opened some things up. But we’re going to have to prove that we’re with those upper-echelon teams in the East. But we do feel like if all things come together, we can be right there, and we’ve given ourselves a lot of flexibility to upgrade the team during the year, if things are going as well as we hope.”
Here’s more on the Sixers:
- While Morey says star center Joel Embiid is “on track” to be ready for the start of training camp, league sources tell Jones that the 31-year-old big man has not yet resumed on-court basketball activities. Still, Morey and the rest of the front office are optimistic that Embiid will be ready to suit up for the regular season opener.
- In his same session with reporters, including Jones, Morey seemed to confirm that Philadelphia offered Guerschon Yabusele a contract above the minimum using his Non-Bird rights, as our Luke Adams had previously speculated. Yabusele wound up signing a two-year deal with New York for part of the mid-level exception. Morey suggested the 76ers didn’t want to hard-cap themselves by using any portion of their taxpayer MLE before Quentin Grimes‘ restricted free agency is resolved.
- “Yeah, that sucked,” Morey said of losing Yabusele. “We offered Guerschon the most that we could that wouldn’t limit us and our ability to retain Quentin. That was above the minimum. I’ve seen reports saying that we only offered the minimum, and that wasn’t true. But it was definitely below what he ended up getting. We knew it would create a challenge for us. So we wanted to retain Quentin. We hope to work that out with his representation, and our focus was on making sure that happens. So, that did impact what we could offer Guerschon.”
- Philadelphia native Justin Edwards was one of the bright spots for the Sixers last season. After a solid rookie campaign, he re-signed with his hometown team on a new three-year deal. “I definitely think this has been a full-circle moment for me, playing in the place I grew up in,” Edwards told Jones of The Athletic. “What I want to do is continue to grow my game and to keep getting better. I want to be in the Rising Stars game next season.”
If Yabu was a better defender/rebounder it would have made sense to make a move to keep him in the loop… but they also couldn’t offer him much more than the Knicks anyway.
Insightful and I agree. Grimes better fit with Joel. Correct call Morey.
phillyballers:
I hear this a lot. The team was so undermanned and he was asked to do so much. Don’t you think maybe they didn’t even quite see the best of him because of that? I bet he rebounds and defends better with competent players around him.
Choosing Grimes another bad move by Morey
Grimes is an obvious bust candidate.
Philly really got snake bit last year. If all the injured come back, a possible huge turnaround. Keeping Grimes over Yabusele? We’ll reserve judgement.
Morey is pure cancer to any team. If you want your team to not win ever, hire him.
It’s Embiid who should get all the blame. If he weren’t such a flopper getting himself injured all the time maybe they’d be ok.
The article avoids the singular fact defining the 76ers franchise. The situation is dire for the next 4 years.
Embiid (4 years remaining at $60M/yr) and Paul George (35 years old, 3 years remaining at $55M/yr) are unlikely to come close to earning their exorbitant contracts. Injuries, surgical procedures, and age are irreversible.
Call it “unlucky”, but that’s denying the laws of nature. Embiid’s body is done.
The reason that Morey is still around is that the Philly owner signed off on the risky strategy of signing these 2 players, despite their injury histories. They bet against the odds and it didn’t work.
Agreed. The Sixers will likely be healthier next season, but healthy enough to be a top team in the East? Or for a playoff run? Doubtful. Correction to the mean is not enough when that mean would already be a problem. And Father Time has his claws sunk in.
Philly still have a team? OK.
“As challenging as last season was, president of basketball operations Daryl Morey thinks the 76ers have an opportunity to make a significant move up the Eastern Conference standings in ’25/26 due to major injuries to star players and roster changes to rival teams”
Talk about a snake oil salesman