The Philadelphia 76ers figure to be much better in the 2025-26 campaign compared to the previous season due to just being healthy. The Sixers finished 24-58 in 2024-25 due to injuries decimating the roster as Joel Embiid, Paul George, and Tyrese Maxey were never able to build anything due to a multitude of injuries.
The Sixers will head into the 2025-26 season with a renewed sense of optimism. This is a terrific roster on paper with a lot of talent. Especially, with the upgrades made to the supporting cast such as bringing in the likes of Trendon Watford, VJ Edgecombe, Dominick Barlow, and Jabari Walker as Philadelphia boasts a much younger group of players.
With that being said, everything the Sixers do will come down to whether Embiid and George can return healthy and give them the star power they need to win and compete in the East. Therefore, they’re a tough team to predict in that respect. ESPN projects the Sixers at 38.4 wins which is a bit below their over/under number of 42.5:
The optimism around the Sixers is a bit mystifying; their roster looks worse on paper with the loss of key frontcourt contributor Guerschon Yabusele. If Joel Embiid is healthy and effective, Philadelphia probably would finish better than .500. But even the 1,440 minutes I’ve projected for Embiid feel optimistic at this point; he last played that much in 2022-23 en route to being named MVP. And fellow injury question mark Paul George no longer rates as an elite player after last season’s performance.
The Sixers will have to piece things together as they go along. This is, obviously, a talented group, but Philadelphia will go as far as Embiid takes them. It will be interesting to see how healthy he will be in the upcoming season.