Sixers Notes: Edgecombe, Maxey, Offseason
The Sixers‘ season ended in disappointing fashion on Sunday, as the team was thoroughly outplayed — and swept — by New York in the Eastern Conference semifinals. If there’s a reason to believe in the 76ers’ future, it’s largely due to the impressive play of rookie VJ Edgecombe, writes Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports.
“Playing against the Celtics to now against New York, it was tricky. I was guarded differently,” Edgecombe said on Sunday. “I’m gonna take some time, look back at it after a couple of weeks or so.
“I refuse for, coming into next year, a team won’t ever leave me open. Even during the regular season, I was shooting the ball pretty well, and the playoffs come, and it’s just a different vibe, you know? Intensity’s higher, closeouts are a lot quicker, but I’m going to go in, and I’m gonna work. I’m gonna work. I’m gonna work. I’m going to do whatever I got to do to get better, make life easier for [Tyrese Maxey] and the rest of my teammates, take some of the pressure off some of the load offensively off of them.”
In addition to offensive improvements, the 6’4″ guard hopes to continue honing his craft on the defensive end as well, per Neubeck.
“Defensively, I’m gonna keep getting better, keep learning. For the rest of my career, I want to go out and say I can go guard whoever I have to go guard,” Edgecombe said. “I’m just excited to see how this offseason is gonna look for me, and next year I’m coming back better, stronger, faster, more athletic, whatever I gotta do.”
Here’s more from Philadelphia:
- Maxey had an excellent season for the Sixers and will almost certainly earn his first All-NBA berth in 2025/26, but he struggled with double-teams and traps in the second-round matchup vs. the Knicks, according to Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Maxey is hoping he’ll be able to play off the ball more often in 2026/27 as Edgecombe works on initiating the offense. “When you’re in front of the defense all the time,” Maxey said. “ … it gives [the opponent] opportunities that have the entire team kind of load up. And I feel like that’s one thing that really good players and great players can do. They can be on the ball [and] make plays on the ball, but they can also play off the ball and contribute that way, use their gravity that way.”
- Although The Athletic reported on Monday that president of basketball operations Daryl Morey and head coach Nick Nurse could be dismissed, Adam Aaronson of PhillyVoice doesn’t expect that to happen after the 3-1 first-round comeback against Boston. Still, he acknowledges the possibility can’t be ruled out after the 76ers were swept in the second round. Aaronson also provides an overview of the team’s offseason, noting that Quentin Grimes, Kelly Oubre Jr. and Andre Drummond are the 76ers’ primary free agents.
- ESPN’s Bobby Marks previews the Sixers’ offseason, writing that they’ll likely be over the first tax apron if they re-sign Grimes and Oubre. Gauging the trade market for Joel Embiid and Paul George to build around Maxey and Edgecombe would be an ideal outcome for Philadelphia, but Marks views that scenario as unlikely given how much money those two aging stars are owed.
Celtics/Sixers Notes: Edgecombe, George, Unlikely Heroes, More
The Sixers‘ star rookie, VJ Edgecombe, has generated his share of memorable moments during his first year in the league. Many of those have come in Boston’s TD Garden, prompting the question of whether he has one more big performance vs. the Celtics in him this year in Saturday’s Game 7 matchup, Adam Aaronson writes for PhillyVoice.
“It’s crazy to think about it,” Edgecombe said. “The first game was here. Now we’re in the playoffs playing here. I feel like I’ve been in this building a lot now, and this is my first year… Boston’s a good team, so I know that it’s going to be a real competitive game. So everything else is going to be out the window. All previous times we played here is out of the window. It’s all just focused on tonight.”
The young guard has been particularly impactful once Joel Embiid returned to play, showing improved efficiency despite a lower shot total, DeAntae Prince writes for the Philadelphia Inquirer.
“That’s Joel Embiid, if we’re being so honest. He’s just so good. I don’t think anyone can guard him one-on-one,” Edgecombe said. “So I just try to make his job easier by getting open looks or an if it’s an available pass, the outlet pass.”
We have more notes regarding Game 7:
- Paul George has been upgraded to available for the Sixers, Tony Jones notes for The Athletic (Twitter link). The star wing had previously been added to the injury report as probable due to an illness. George has averaged 18.2 points in 36.3 minutes per game through the first six games of the series.
- If there’s one buzzword the Celtics are focusing on coming into the matchup, it’s “comfortable,” Steve Buckley writes for The Athletic. As in: “[The Sixers’] comfort level is higher right now,” per Jaylen Brown. “Their confidence is high right now. They’ve got a different swag to them, and we’ve gotta take that (away).” Or as in: “I thought Edgecombe was just too comfortable [in Game 2],” Brown said again. If Boston wants to come out of this series, especially without Jayson Tatum, who was a late scratch for Game 7, they need to stop looking past the Sixers and focus on their own missteps in the series, Buckley says.
- The anything-can-happen nature of a Game 7 can result in unlikely heroes, Aaronson writes. As an example, in 2022, Grant Williams‘ 27 points for the Celtics helped seal a Game 7 victory over the Bucks. Aaronson examines some potential candidates for the Sixers, ultimately landing on Quentin Grimes, Andre Drummond, and, as a dark-horse option, Justin Edwards.
- Home-court advantage is a popular topic late in the season as teams fight for seeding, but the Celtics, in recent years, have seemed more dominant on the road than in TD Garden. Robb examines the phenomenon in a recent mailbag, positing that Boston players may let their guard down a bit in the comfort of their home arena, relying on three-pointers and “home-run plays,” instead of a greater sense of urgency and intentionality.
Eastern Notes: Embiid, Grimes, Schröder, Cavaliers
Less than three weeks after an emergency appendectomy, Joel Embiid was the best player on the court as the Sixers staved off elimination in Tuesday’s Game 5 victory at Boston, according to Tony Jones of The Athletic.
“I was proud of him tonight,” said Tyrese Maxey, who finished with 25 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. “To see him go out there under those circumstances and play like that — he was dominant, especially in the second half. He did a great job of inserting himself into the game. He carried us tonight.”
The seven-time All-Star started the game slowly, only converting one of his first seven field goal attempts. However, he made 11 of his next 16 attempts, finishing 12-of-23, and went 9-of-10 from the foul line for a total of 33 points. Embiid also contributed eight assists and four rebounds, but most importantly he was a mismatch down low and the Celtics had no answers to stop him, Jones writes.
“I don’t want to go home,” Embiid said. “That’s one of the reasons I’m glad we won tonight. Because I didn’t want to go home and look back this summer and wonder what could have happened if I were healthy. I’ve dealt with a lot of stuff in my career. I want to give this all that I can.
“We were better defensively tonight than we had been. It’s a little easier when you’re making shots. When I started the game, me taking jumpers wasn’t working. I had to adjust. I wanted to impose myself and get into the paint a little bit more. When I’m playing one-on-one, I feel good about my chances of scoring on anyone in this league.”
As Embiid alluded to, Philadelphia held Boston to just 97 points on Tuesday after the Celtics blitzed the 76ers 128-97 in Game 4.
The 32-year-old center is probable to suit up for Thursday’s Game 6 in Philadelphia, per Adam Aaronson of PhillyVoice.
Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:
- Boston’s bench had outplayed Philadelphia’s reserves through the first four games of their first-round series, but Sixers guard Quentin Grimes helped flipped that script in Game 5, writes Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer. The impending free agent scored a highly efficient 18 points in 24 minutes while playing strong perimeter defense, Mizell notes. “Obviously, he gave us a great lift on both ends,” head coach Nick Nurse said of Grimes on Wednesday. “ … I’m glad he kind of looked more like himself.“
- Veteran point guard Dennis Schröder didn’t play much in the first four games of the Cavaliers‘ matchup with Toronto, averaging just 11.3 MPG, but he spoke up at halftime of Game 5 after Cleveland gave up 74 points in the first half and then played the entire fourth quarter to help lead the team to a comeback victory, as Jamal Collier of ESPN details. The 32-year-old German urged his teammates to bring more energy and assertiveness and to play through big men Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, according to Collier. Schröder had 19 points in 21 minutes, including 11 in the final period as the Cavs outscored the Raptors 25-17.
- While the Cavaliers showed some promising signs in Tuesday’s win, particularly in the fourth quarter, the fact that they’ve struggled for most of the the past three games may not bode well for the rest of the playoffs, argues Jason Lloyd of The Athletic. According to Lloyd, the Cavs will have to do more than eke out a home win against a banged-up Raptors team to prove their mettle, which has been repeatedly questioned the last few years following early postseason exits.
Atlantic Notes: Knicks, Embiid, Grimes, Ingram, CMB
The nine players the Knicks used in Thursday’s win over Boston will likely make up the team’s playoff rotation, head coach Mike Brown said after the game, per Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. That group includes starters Karl-Anthony Towns, Jalen Brunson, OG Anunoby, Miles Bridges and Josh Hart, plus reserves Mitchell Robinson, Miles McBride, Landry Shamet, and Jordan Clarkson.
“Those guys are probably our top nine when you’re talking about the playoffs,” Brown said. “And it’s hard to play more than nine guys (in the playoffs).”
While it’s probably no shock that rookie forward Mohamed Diawara and second-year guard Tyler Kolek didn’t make the cut, it’s notable that veteran guard Jose Alvarado – whom New York gave up a couple second-round picks to acquire in February – isn’t among that top nine. The former Pelican has been a DNP-CD in each of the Knicks’ past two games, but he suggested on Thursday that he’s unfazed by his declining role.
“I’m good. I’m chilling. I’m ready for my moment. I’m ready for my name to get called, whenever it is,” Alvarado said, according to Bondy. “Like you said, I started off here high. That was the best way to start. So there’s only one way to go — down. We just stay there mentally. This is my home team. I love the organization, I love the Knicks. So just whenever it’s Jose’s time, whenever that time is, I’m ready.”
Here’s more from out of the Atlantic:
- Joel Embiid‘s emergency appendectomy changes everything for the Sixers, making the team’s path to a playoff spot more difficult and significantly reducing its odds of winning a series, writes Tony Jones of The Athletic. The 76ers issued an update on Embiid on Friday, announcing that he’s returning to Philadelphia following a successful procedure in Houston, but no timeline has been set for his return to basketball activities (Twitter link via Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports).
- Quentin Grimes will be an unrestricted free agent this summer after accepting his one-year qualifying offer as a RFA last offseason. The Sixers guard’s role has fluctuated throughout the season with teammates in and out of the lineup, per Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer, but Grimes recently described his performance in 2025/26 as “solid” and he believes he “maximized” his opportunities. “Be in attack mode. Be a good on-ball defender. Make plays for myself and teammates,” Grimes said last week. “The whole year has asked for me to do different things. But I feel like, when the whole team’s healthy, my natural self is still playing my same game I’ve been playing the whole year.”
- There was some uncertainty entering the fall about what the Raptors could expect from forward Brandon Ingram – who missed most of last season due to ankle injury – and lottery pick Collin Murray-Boyles, who wasn’t viewed as an immediate difference-maker at the NBA level. But Toronto has gotten near best-case outcomes from both players, according to Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca, who says Ingram’s All-Star play and Murray-Boyles’ rapid development have helped get Toronto on the verge of its first playoff appearance since 2022. The Raptors can clinch a playoff berth with a win over New York on Friday, but they’ll be missing Murray-Boyles (neck sprain) and point guard Immanuel Quickley (plantar fasciitis injury management), tweets Grange.
Rory Maher contributed to this post.
Free Agent Stock Watch: Atlantic Division
For the rest of the regular season and postseason, Hoops Rumors is taking a closer look at players who will be free agents – or could become free agents – during the 2026 offseason. We’ll consider whether each player’s stock is rising or falling due to his performance and several other factors.
Today, we’re focusing on a handful of players in the Atlantic Division, starting with a former second-round pick having a breakout season.
Sixers’ Tyrese Maxey Returns Saturday
The Sixers announced (via Twitter) that Tyrese Maxey will return to action for Saturday’s game at Charlotte, which carries huge stakes in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
The All-Star guard will be back on the court after missing the past 10 games with a tendon injury in his right pinkie finger. The team stated on March 10 that Maxey would be reevaluated in three weeks, so he was able to return slightly ahead of schedule.
Having Maxey back on the court will be a huge addition for the seventh-place Sixers, who are fighting to escape the play-in tournament at 40-33. Philadelphia is only one game away from moving up to fifth, but is just a game-and-a-half ahead of 10th-place Miami.
Before the injury, Maxey was in the midst of his best NBA season, topping the Sixers in scoring at 29 points per game and leading the league in both minutes played (38.3) and steals (2.0) per contest. He’s also averaging 6.7 assists per game while posting .461/.373/.893 shooting numbers and has formed one of the league’s best young backcourts alongside rookie VJ Edgecombe.
Tonight will be Maxey’s 62nd game of the season, so he’ll only need to appear in three of the final eight to reach the 65-game requirement to qualify for postseason awards. He’s a strong candidate for All-NBA honors after being named Most Improved Player in 2023/24 and finishing tied for 10th in the Clutch Player balloting last season.
Maxey’s return will force Quentin Grimes back to a reserve role after he started the past 12 games he has played. Cameron Payne and Justin Edwards could also see their playing time reduced.
Atlantic Notes: Murray-Boyles, Nets, Knicks, Edgecombe
Raptors rookie forward Collin Murray-Boyles has missed the team’s past eight games due to a sprained left thumb, but his return shouldn’t be far off. According to Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca (Twitter link), Murray-Boyles took part in practice on Tuesday, with the club set to assess how he responds to that session before determining whether he’ll be available for Wednesday’s game in Chicago.
Even if Murray-Boyles isn’t cleared to play tomorrow, head coach Darko Rajakovic expects to have him back at some point during the upcoming five-game road trip, which begins on Wednesday and runs through next Wednesday in L.A., tweets Lewenberg.
Murray-Boyles had emerged as a key contributor for Toronto prior to the injury. He has started 18 of his last 19 outings, averaging 9.2 points, 6.0 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.4 blocks, and 1.3 steals in 27.7 minutes per game while shooting 60.3% from the floor during that stretch.
Here are a few more items of interest from across the Atlantic:
- Eric Koreen of The Athletic wonders if this year’s Raptors are the equivalent of last season’s Pistons, a limited offensive team without enough shooting that nonetheless played a scrappy brand of basketball, exceeded expectations, ended a postseason drought, and pushed a higher seed in the first round of the playoffs.
- There are five “touch points” that will determine how quickly the Nets accelerate their rebuild, according to Brian Lewis of The New York Post: How their rookies develop, where their lottery pick ends up, the results of the upcoming postseason, whether a star becomes available, and how free agency plays out.
- In a mailbag, Ian Begley of SNY.tv outlines why Knicks head coach Mike Brown is reluctant to make changes to a struggling starting five and notes that Mikal Bridges has played a key role in the club’s defensive turnaround while slumping offensively.
- With Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid, and Paul George all unavailable, the Sixers have won three of their last four games with young role players like VJ Edgecombe, Quentin Grimes, and Justin Edwards leading the way, writes Tony Jones of The Athletic. As Jones observes, Edgecombe is gaining important reps as Philadelphia’s go-to scorer, which could serve him well down the road. “I was being double-teamed against Brooklyn,” Edgecombe said, referring to Saturday’s game in which he scored 16 points on 6-of-13 shooting. “I had never been doubled in my life. I guess I just have to go back and look at the film.”
Lakers Rumors: Doncic, LeBron, Offseason Targets, Giannis
It was a relatively quiet trade deadline for the Lakers, who were linked to a myriad of potential targets but ended up making just one relatively minor deal, sending Gabe Vincent and a second-round pick to Atlanta for Luke Kennard. As Dave McMenamin of ESPN writes, general manager Rob Pelinka described the Lakers as being “aggressive” at the deadline while using a nontraditional definition of the term.
“One form of being aggressive is saying no to moves that come your way that might not be best for the short- and long-term future,” Pelinka said. “That’s like being aggressive, even though you end up doing nothing, because it’s hard to say no sometimes to getting a good player that could be a quick short-term fix, but could have implications for the long term where it doesn’t fit into the overall vision you have for the team.”
A source close to Luka Doncic tells ESPN that the All-Star guard supported the team’s focus on the “long-term picture” at the trade deadline. That “adherence to discipline” at the deadline could lead to an eventful summer, according to McMenamin, who notes that the club preserved its most valuable trade assets and its future cap flexibility and is in position to create more than $50MM in cap room even if Deandre Ayton and Marcus Smart pick up their respective player options.
Here’s more from McMenamin on the Lakers’ plans going forward:
- That $50MM+ cap projection doesn’t account for LeBron James, but if he wants to continue his career in 2026/27, the Lakers would welcome him back, sources tell McMenamin. Pelinka has said before that he’d love for James to retire as a Laker, and that would apply in 2027, not just 2026, McMenamin writes. Still, one Eastern Conference executive who spoke to ESPN believes it would be in the team’s best long-term interests to move on from LeBron and focus on building around Doncic this offseason. “Let him walk and use the space to retool around Luka,” that exec said. “Keeping (Austin) Reaves is critical. (Doncic) plays best with another ball handler/creator like with Kyrie (Irving) and (Jalen) Brunson.”
- Heat forward Andrew Wiggins and Rockets wing Tari Eason are among the potential 2026 free agent targets the Lakers have discussed internally, per McMenamin, though it remains to be seen if either will actually be available — Wiggins holds a 2026/27 player option, while Eason will be a restricted free agent. Peyton Watson is another player the Lakers have on their radar, since the cap-strapped Nuggets would have to shed salary or go into second-apron territory to match an aggressive offer sheet for the RFA-to-be. “We felt like creating optionality or having optionality now is really a positive thing for us this coming offseason,” Pelinka said earlier this month. “Because there’s some teams that maybe have gotten too deep into the aprons. And I think players, we see around the league, become available when teams get in that position.”
- One rival front office member who spoke to ESPN suggested the Lakers need to “get as many defenders with length that can knock down a shot as possible.” Tobias Harris, Quentin Grimes, and Dean Wade are among the other players who fit that bill and who will be unrestricted free agents in 2026, McMenamin notes.
- Of course, while the Lakers would like to add quality role players to complement Doncic, they also believe they could be among the top suitors for Giannis Antetokounmpo if the Bucks explore moving the star forward again this summer, team sources tell McMenamin. Los Angeles will have the ability to trade up to three first-round picks (2026, 2031, and 2033) in the offseason and one Western Conference executive told ESPN that he thinks Giannis is the “big prize” the club has its eye on.
Atlantic Notes: Embiid, Grimes, Ingram, Sharpe
Sixers center Joel Embiid will miss the team’s final game before the All-Star break, as first reported by ESPN’s Tim Bontemps (Twitter link). Embiid has been ruled out for Wednesday’s matchup with New York due to right knee injury management.
Embiid said he felt some soreness in that knee after Philadelphia’s win in Phoenix on Saturday, then sat out Monday’s loss in Portland. Although that soreness has decreased in recent days, per Bontemps, the 76ers will play it safe with the former MVP — he’ll continue to receive treatment in the coming days and will be reevaluated after the All-Star break (Twitter link).
We have more from across the Atlantic:
- While Quentin Grimes probably would’ve preferred to secure a lucrative long-term deal in restricted free agency last summer, accepting his one-year qualifying offer gave the Sixers guard a de facto no-trade clause this season, which he appreciated at the trade deadline. “That made it a little easier to go to bed at night and knowing that I’m not going to wake up and find out that I’m somewhere that I don’t want to be,” Grimes told Mark Medina of EssentiallySports. “That was a good thing about it, for sure. It eased my mind a little bit. I’m knowing that my agent can call me and relay a proposal from another team that I have to give an OK toward, so it was a little bit of a win-win for me.”
- Brandon Ingram‘s All-Star berth is a major win for the Raptors, who faced criticism last season for trading for and extending a player who had battled injuries during his last few years in New Orleans, writes Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. Ingram has led Toronto in scoring while appearing in 52 of 54 games so far. “I think that from the moment he came to our team, the amount of work and preparation (he put in), he had a really hard summer with lot of recovery, lot of like, boring exercises and stuff to get him healthy, to get him on the floor,” head coach Darko Rajakovic said. “And that he has (missed just two games) is just testament to all the amount of work that he put in.”
- Day’Ron Sharpe has the highest net rating among Nets regulars and ranks among the NBA’s top 10 in offensive rebounds and steals per 100 possessions, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post (subscription required). While Brooklyn holds a $6.5MM option on Sharpe for 2026/27, Lewis suggests it might make sense for the team to try to work out a longer-term deal with the 24-year-old center. That would require the Nets to turn down the option and make Sharpe an unrestricted free agent, but the two sides would have a window to negotiate a new contract before the team officially makes a decision on the option.
Embiid Hopes Sixers Don’t Prioritize Ducking Tax
At the 2024 trade deadline, the Sixers traded Danuel House and Jaden Springer in order to dip below the luxury tax line. They took a similar approach in 2025, getting out of tax territory by making deals involving Caleb Martin and KJ Martin.
Philadelphia is operating roughly $7MM above the tax line this season and there has been speculation the team will once again be looking to make cost-cutting moves at the deadline, but star center Joel Embiid suggested on Thursday that he’s hopeful the front office won’t go that route, per Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer (subscription required).
“We’ve been ducking the tax the last couple of years,” Embiid said (Twitter video link via Derek Bodner of PHLY Sports). “So hopefully we keep the same team. I love all of the guys that are in here. I think we got a shot.
“I don’t know what (the front office is) going to do. But I hope that we get a chance to go out there and compete because we got a good group of guys in this locker room, and the vibes are great. … Hopefully we think about improving because we have a chance.”
Expectations were modest for the Sixers this season after they battled a bevy of injuries and won just 24 games in 2024/25. But the club has already exceeded that win total through its first 47 games, with Embiid and Paul George playing more frequently, Tyrese Maxey ascending to a new level of stardom, and lottery pick VJ Edgecombe emerging immediately as a reliable starter. At 26-21, Philadelphia currently holds the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference.
The 76ers could move below the luxury tax line by trading either Quentin Grimes ($8.74MM) or Kelly Oubre Jr. ($8.38MM), who are on expiring contracts. However, both players have been important parts of the team’s rotation, and sources tell ESPN’s Tim Bontemps and Brian Windhorst that the team isn’t pursuing a salary-dump deal involving either player.
Philadelphia is reportedly open to trading reserve center Andre Drummond, but moving his $5MM expiring contract wouldn’t be enough to get the club out of the tax. Even dealing Drummond and a second player who is earning the veteran’s minimum (say, Eric Gordon) would offer only a temporary reprieve, since doing so would drop the Sixers to just 12 players on standard contracts. They’d have to get back to the league-mandated minimum of 14 within two weeks, which would put them back into tax territory.
Getting out of the tax would be a financial boon for ownership — besides eliminating a $7.5MM tax bill, it would make the team eligible for an eight-figure payment at season’s end from the league-wide luxury tax pool. But after having spent the last two seasons as a non-taxpayer, the Sixers have successfully reset their repeater clock, so they shouldn’t feel as much urgency as they did in 2024 or 2025 to shed salary.