There weren’t many good stories to discuss on the court with the Sixers during the 2024-25 NBA season, but they are hoping that is behind them as the 2025-26 season closes in.

Last offseason, team President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey made a splash, signing Paul George to a max deal and adding plenty of veteran players to surround his MVP, Joel Embiid.

Both Embiid and George got hurt, then first-round pick Jared McCain was lost to injury, followed by Tyrese Maxey, and seemingly everyone else had a stint watching from the sidelines.

The result was a miserable 24-win season, which landed the team in the NBA Draft Lottery, resulting in the No. 3 overall pick.

After the 24 wins, many Sixers fans were calling for change. With Morey as the frontman, many wanted him gone. However, the team has seen improvement to the roster with smart drafting, scouting, and adding younger, more athletic talent to the roster, which still will rely on the health of Embiid and George.

CBS Sports Ranks Daryl Morey No. 9 Among NBA GMs

However, CBS Sports NBA writer Sam Quinn thinks Morey has done a very good job in moving the Sixers in the right direction in his latest NBA GM rankings at CBS Sports, ranking the Sixers at No. 9 overall.

A Closer Look at Morey’s Draft Success

 

Drafting Tyrese Maxey at No. 21 overall in 2020, now an All-Star caliber guard.

Finding value late in the draft with Paul Reed, Isaiah Joe, and Adem Bona.

Signing Justin Edwards as an undrafted free agent.

Using the James Harden trade to clear cap space that helped land Paul George.

Trading for Quentin Grimes, a move Quinn called a “heist.”

Why Morey’s Rebuild Strategy Is Earning Praise

 

How many teams have done better than that outside of the lottery in the last five years? Morey, who had never gone below .500 as a GM before last season, just made his highest pick ever at No. 3 in June, and VJ Edgecombe looks like a winner so far.

It’s that restocking of talent that has the writer thinking the Sixers will be in good shape in the post-Embiid-George era.

He talked about the Harden deal and how clearing the cap space to try and land George was probably the right move, but so far, it’s not paying off.  He also discussed the trade the team made to land restricted free agent guard Quentin Grimes, which paid off last season, with the hope he returns to this year’s roster.

The most important job a front office has is gathering talent, and Morey does so as well as almost any general manager in basketball. We haven’t even covered the midseason Quentin Grimes heist. Morey may have created long-term problems with the George and Embiid contracts, but the surplus value he’s generated through that smart drafting and the cheap rookie deals that come with it is also gives Philadelphia a real path to solving them.

The George and Embiid deals are frustrating, with the teams’ short-term success likely tied to their health, but the team does have some exciting new faces starting to emerge that could keep them in contention in a watered-down Eastern Conference with or without the two megastars.

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