The Philadelphia 76ers will enter the 2025-26 season looking to get back on the path toward contention following a miserable 24-58 season in which injuries decimated the roster. When Joel Embiid, Paul George, and Tyrese Maxey are healthy, there is no telling what that roster can really do on the floor.
The front office focused on getting younger and adding more versatile pieces to the roster in the offseason and that’s what they did. The Sixers selected VJ Edgecombe with the No. 3 overall pick and then brought in Trendon Watford, Jabari Walker, and Dominick Barlow in free agency as the Sixers wanted to get with the trend of where the league is going in terms of youth and depth.
Bleacher Report predicted how many games each team will win in the 2025-26 season and they believe the Sixers will finish 38-44:
When healthy, they should be considered a title contender (especially in the weakened East). Joel Embiid isn’t long removed from an MVP nod. Paul George averaged 22.6 points and 3.3 threes, while shooting 41.3 percent from three, in his last season with the Clippers. And Tyrese Maxey was, at least statistically, a top 25-30 player in 2023-24 and a top 45-50 player during Philadelphia’s injury-plagued 2024-25.
But given the age of George (35) and the injury history of Embiid, it’s getting increasingly difficult to imagine anything but injury-plagued seasons for this core.
Sixty-plus appearances for either of those stars is unlikely. And ultimately, this campaign could turn into a developmental stage for Maxey, Jared McCain and incoming rookie VJ Edgecombe.
Everything will come down to health. No matter the additions the Sixers made, this comes down to whether Embiid and George will be out there on the floor because without them, this team is not a contender. If their injuries still limit those two, then the Sixers will have little chance, and the focus should be on developing their young guards in an effort to move forward into a new era.