After a down season in 2024-25, everyone kind of forgot about the Philadelphia 76ers. Injuries to their key players scared most analysts away during offseason prediction pieces. If they were mentioned, it was solely to say they didn’t know what to do with them.
But here the 76ers are, winners of their first four games and one of four NBA teams to proudly remain undefeated. So, is it time to start talking about the 76ers as title contenders again?
The 76ers (Finally) Have Lady Luck On Their Side
That statement above seems funny to write (probably even more hilarious to read), especially considering how much poor injury luck has hampered them in the past. But fate has been on Philadelphia’s side to start the season. According to Dunks & Threes, the 76ers have played the league’s sixth-easiest schedule. They’ve also had a few fortunate bounces in those games. None of their four wins came by more than five points, which is why, despite boasting the best win percentage in basketball, they are only 12th in net rating.
Their “luck” has also come in the form of shooting. On the season, they are first in 3-point percentage (41.9 percent) after finishing 27th last year (34.1 percent). This isn’t to downplay the 76ers’ shooting improvement but it is highly unlikely they’ll have six different rotation players shooting over 40 percent the entire season, especially when looking at their past production.
What The 76ers Are Doing Well
I’m not going to be the hater who says their success is all a product of good fortune. You can’t win four games on pure luck in any league, let alone the NBA.
In the 76ers’ case, I have four big takeaways: Tyrese Maxey is still a clear All-Star; VJ Edgecombe is the kind of rookie who can immediately impact winning; the last two months of 2024-25 were not a fluke for Quentin Grimes; Philadelphia has a deeper team than what was originally anticipated.
After a down year, Maxey is back to being the uber-efficient scorer (61.5 percent true shooting) he was in 2023-24, when he struggled carrying the entire offense on his well-developed shoulders. According to PBP Stats, his true shooting percentage dipped to a mediocre 54.2 percent when Joel Embiid and Paul George were on the bench. Now, he’s once again surrounded by a reasonable supporting cast (even without George and Jared McCain), which allows him to oscillate between playing on and off the ball (a much more appropriate role for his set of his skills).
As the earlier chart suggests, Edgecombe will likely see a decline in his shooting splits. But even then, his athleticism and passing (5.5 assists per game) are already at the level of a productive NBA player. Speaking of that athleticism, he’s freakishly fast. My colleague, Ben Pfeifer, tried to warn me but man, Edgecombe can get past anyone. Look how easily he blows by his man here without the aid of a ball-screen.
Or, how he effortlessly dribbles around this hedge for a paint touch, which creates an open shot for his teammate:
After scouting Grimes pretty extensively, I came to the conclusion he’s not a natural lead ball-handler. That’s perfectly fine because he has Maxey, McCain and Edgecombe to fulfill those duties. The time Grimes spent as the No. 1 guy did serve to refine his ball skills and enhance his confidence, though. Now, he’s an even more efficient secondary scorer and closeout attacker, averaging 17.8 points and 3.8 assists on 63.1 percent true shooting.
To my last point, when I previewed the 76ers this summer, one of my biggest concerns was their lack of depth outside of their top six guys. And to their credit, the rest of the crew has done a great job of dispelling those fears.
Adem Bona looks like a legit backup center. His lob finishing and jump-out-the-gym hops make him a nice change of pace to the now-grounded Embiid. Justin Edwards had solid flashes as a three-and-D guy last year; this season’s games are showing those flashes were not a one-year fluke. Kelly Oubre Jr. and Andre Drummond still have some venom in their fangs. Trendon Watford and Jabari Walker are nice energy forwards who can eat innings in the regular season.
It isn’t fair to rely on any of these guys to play big minutes on a playoff team but when McCain and George return and Embiid is fully up to speed, they will make for some worthy complementary pieces.
What Does This Look Like Fully Healthy?
This is what makes the 76ers so fun to ponder over. They are a frisky team that keeps finding ways to win and we haven’t even seen them with all their toys yet!
After suffering a thumb injury in late September, McCain finally has his cast off and is getting shots up again. We don’t know for sure when he’ll be back but a return seems imminent. During his short stint as a rookie (23 games), McCain set the basketball world ablaze with his advanced ability to get buckets (15.3 points per game).
At the very least, he will act as a buoy to the offense in the non-Maxey minutes and allow the 76ers All-Star more time to catch his breath. Maxey is currently averaging a league-leading 43 minutes per game right now. When they’re on the floor together, McCain’s blend of shooting, pace, strength and handle will serve as a nice complement to Maxey’s game.
Outside of Embiid, the 76ers’ three best players right now — Maxey, Edgecombe and Grimes — are all 6 feet 4 inches or shorter. I like all of the front-court guys who have stepped up in the wake of all these absences but none of them have George’s two-way ceiling, even at 35 years old. To be more than a pesky regular-season matchup, the 76ers need George’s functional size.
With all the fiery young scorers it now wields, Philadelphia no longer needs George to be the All-NBA player he was for the last decade. The 76ers just need him to be a good floor-spacer, second-side attacker and off-ball defender — all things he’s proven more than capable of doing at a high level in the past. Hopefully, he’s back in the lineup soon.
And then, there’s the Embiid of it all. Embiid’s been present for three of the 76ers’ first four games but he’s been approximately half of his usual MVP self in this time. A team-imposed minutes restriction has limited to just 21 minutes per game, he’s relying on his jumper more than ever (career-low rim frequency) and he doesn’t have the same rim protection chops of his prime (career-low block rate).
It’s sad to say, but Embiid will likely never again be the all-time great two-way player we once had the honor to watch. But even if he can get to 80 percent of that form, he’d give the 76ers a clear top-25 player to anchor their lineup and let Bona transition into the 12-18-minute role for which he’s best suited.
Even with their early success, I still view the 76ers as a volatile team because of all the statistical noise around these first four games and all the uncertainties around their best players. I wouldn’t be surprised if they suddenly dropped nine of their next 10 games, never got healthy and ended up as a bottom-five team in the Eastern Conference for the second straight year.
Still, the 76ers’ ceiling is quite tantalizing. Their top-six guys are a threat to drop 20-plus points on any given night and the guys surrounding them aren’t half bad either. If the Basketball Gods keep smiling at them, I could easily see the 76ers winning a playoff series or two in a loaded Eastern Conference.
