Season Wrap: The 2025-26 Philadelphia 76ers

  • By Keston Paul

    Last Updated on June 1, 2026 9:54 pm by Keston Paul | Published: June 1, 2026

    The Sixers selected VJ Edgecombe with the No. 3 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, had an offseason contract battle with Quentin Grimes that led nowhere, but picked up a couple of under-the-radar names in free agency who became useful players. The regular season also had its positives and negatives, leading into a historic first-round victory over the Celtics before being swept by the Knicks in the second round.

    How’d It Go?

    Joel Embiid and Paul George began the season nursing injuries, but Tyrese Maxey looked like he had hit a whole new level and rookie VJ Edgecombe also got off to a blistering start. Jared McCain also dealt with a right thumb UCL tear during training camp and the beginning of the regular season.
    The Sixers held a 10-9 record as the No. 9 seed in the East at the end of November.

    It was really around the end of December when things took off, as Embiid found his scoring touch again and had a very healthy run until February.

    It should be noted that George began to look healthier and more consistent, while we saw some inconsistencies from the rookie Edgecombe after the good start, and even more inconsistencies from Quentin Grimes. Furthermore, McCain struggled to really establish himself in the rotation, but players like Dominick Barlow, and to a lesser degree, Jabari Walker looked like useful parts of the rotation.

    At the end of January, George was handed a lengthy suspension:


    McCain also got moved to the Thunder at the trade deadline for a 2026 Rockets first-round pick and three second-round picks, and then-President of Basketball Operations, Daryl Morey, remarked that he was “selling high” on McCain.

    Entering the All-Star break on February 12, the Sixers held a 30-24 record as the comfortable No. 5 seed in the East. In March, things unraveled as Embiid began facing injuries, Maxey also went down with a finger injury and George was still suspended. The Sixers miraculously got those guys back before the end of March, but the damage was done. They finished as the No. 8 seed in the regular season (45-37), eventually beating the Magic in the Play-In game for the No. 7 seed to face the Celtics.

    We also cannot overlook Embiid’s appendectomy, which put his first-round participation in question after he missed the end of the regular season, yet another addition to a career with a storyline of unyielding injury woes.

    The Sixers stole Game 2 vs. the Celtics thanks to a massive Edgecombe game alongside Maxey, and Embiid returned for Game 4 of the series; however, the Sixers went down 1-3, and it felt like yet another disappointing postseason narrative was ready to be written. However, Embiid showed why he is a former MVP, becoming a walking mismatch that the Celtics could not deal with en route to an unlikely comeback, rattling off three straight wins to send Boston home. While the second-round series vs. the Knicks was disappointing, overcoming the Celtics was still a bit of an internal victory, given it was the franchise’s first playoff triumph against them since 1982.

    Daryl Morey and the Sixers also parted ways and it was recently announced that Cavs general manager, Mike Gansey, will take over as the Sixers’ President of Basketball Operations. Here is a background on Gansey, via the blurb I wrote on the announcement:

    “The Sixers recently parted ways with Daryl Morey and their search for a new President was led by Bob Myers — former Warriors executive — who is the “president of sports for Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment,” per Charania. Gansey was the NBA D-League Executive of the Year in 2016-17 for the then-Canton Charge. Under his 2012-2017 tenure — two as general manager and three as director of operations — the Charge never missed the postseason. Via NBA.com, Gansey became the Cavs’ assistant general manager in 2017 until he was promoted to the general manager in 2022, serving as an aid for scouting and personnel decisions under President of Basketball Operations, Koby Altman, until the present day. Gansey had spent all of his career as an Executive in Cleveland, but he will be getting another promotion in Philadelphia with a tricky roster to finetune around Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, Paul George, VJ Edgecombe and company.”

    Gansey appears to be well-respected as a decision-maker in the NBA community, so hopefully, he can be a positive difference-maker for the Sixers moving forward.

    Coaching

    This was Nick Nurse’s third season as the head coach of the Sixers, now holding a 116-130 record (.472) with the franchise in that time, with two winning seasons. As always, absences dictate a lot about the Sixers’ upside and general team performance, but here is the regular-season rundown, via NBA.com:

    • Offensive Rating: 114.3 (16th)
    • Defensive Rating: 114.4 (17th)
    • Net Rating: Minus-0.1 (18th)
    • Pace: 100.39 (15th)

    The Sixers were a middle-of-the-pack team by every metric. However, it is very clear that when Joel Embiid is healthy and playing at a high level, the Sixers’ offense reaches a new ceiling. Defensively, he can still be a good rim protector, but his lack of mobility these days can be an issue as well. Embiid has also become a much worse rebounder at this stage of his career, given that lack of mobility and lift.

    Here are other interesting per-game team stats during the regular season, via NBA.com:

    • Points off turnovers: 19.0 (9th)
    • Fast-break points: 16.9 (9th)
    • Second-chance points: 15.4 (11th)
    • Points in the paint: 50.2 (16th)

    The Sixers should obviously be effective off turnovers and in transition situations thanks to the VJ-Maxx combo:

    Now for the defensive version of those stats (per game):

    • Opponent points off turnovers: 16.7 (7th-best)
    • Opponent fast-break points: 16.7 (26th-fewest, pretty bad!)
    • Opponent second-chance points: 15.8 (24th-fewest, that is bad!)
    • Opponent points in the paint: 49.6 (13th-best)

    None of these really surprises me either. Pretty much, the Sixers don’t turn the ball over a lot — they had a 12.8 TOV%, the third-best in the regular season — but they also don’t consistently get back in transition either. As I said before, Embiid isn’t a great rebounder anymore, so the second-chance points conceded also make sense. Andre Drummond was the team’s only true prolific rebounder — and the rebounding has been an issue for multiple years now.

    Nurse can only work with the personnel he has, and I would say these flaws were mostly personnel-based, but perhaps he can figure out other ways to cover them up moving forward.

    The Players

    Joel Embiid
    C, Philadelphia Sixers
    SeasonTeamGPGSMPG FGMFGAFG% FTMFTAFT% 3PTM3PTA3PT% PTSREBAST STLBLKTO
    25-26 PHI 38 38 31.6 9.0 18.3 48.9 7.5 8.8 85.4 1.4 4.2 33.3 26.9 7.7 3.9 0.6 1.2 2.9
    24-25 PHI 19 19 30.2 7.4 16.6 44.4 7.8 8.9 88.2 1.2 4.1 29.9 23.8 8.2 4.5 0.7 0.9 3.3
    23-24 PHI 39 39 33.6 11.5 21.8 52.9 10.2 11.6 88.3 1.4 3.6 38.8 34.7 11.0 5.6 1.2 1.7 3.8

    ADP: 49.3/49.1 (Yahoo/ESPN) | Total Value: 125/136 (8/9-cat) | Per-Game Value: 18/24 (8/9-cat)

    An appendectomy in April ended Embiid’s regular season at 38 games, but he had somewhat of a bounce-back season on a per-game basis and doubled his games-played total from the prior season. Embiid actually struggled in the early portion of the season, only appearing in seven games by the end of November due to persistent knee problems, while his production was looking rough compared to his prior standards. However, his trainer, Drew Hanlen, revealed he and Embiid had a session in December to fix his jumpshot and that seemed to work, as that is around the time that Embiidโ€™s season took off. From December 30 to February 7, Embiid did not miss a game that wasnโ€™t a rest day for one leg of a back-to-back and his numbers began to climb. However, right shin soreness knocked him out for part of February and then a right oblique strain cost him 13 games in March. Five games later, the appendectomy ended his regular season on April 6. From January 1 to the end of the season, Embiid was a top-10 8-cat and 9-cat producer per game with averages of 29.3 points (.516 FG%, .858 FT%), 1.5 triples, 8.3 rebounds, 4.4 assists, 0.5 steals and 1.1 blocks in 33.8 MPG. His game has become a lot more perimeter-dependent, but the skill level was still able to translate to elite per-game value across that 24-game stretch. In the playoffs, we saw something closer to vintage Embiid as he bullied the Celtics’ bigs in the post, showed off his playmaking skill that has improved since he became an MVP and provided solidity as a rim protector as well. Against the Knicks however, his lack of mobility was exploited when he had to defend in space and he had a tougher time on the offensive end, partly due to battling more injuries that had been stacking up on his body.

    Overall? Embiid still has immense per-game upside, but you still have to bake in the potential for a lot of missed games into any valuation, meaning he can’t be viewed as a first- or a second-round performer through a broader lens.

    Tyrese Maxey
    PG, Philadelphia Sixers
    SeasonTeamGPGSMPG FGMFGAFG% FTMFTAFT% 3PTM3PTA3PT% PTSREBAST STLBLKTO
    25-26 PHI 70 70 38.0 9.9 21.4 46.2 5.3 6.0 89.2 3.1 8.6 36.7 28.3 4.1 6.6 1.9 0.8 2.4
    24-25 PHI 52 52 37.7 9.2 21.0 43.7 4.9 5.6 87.9 3.1 9.2 33.7 26.3 3.3 6.1 1.8 0.4 2.4
    23-24 PHI 70 70 37.5 9.1 20.3 45.0 4.7 5.4 86.8 3.0 8.1 37.3 25.9 3.7 6.2 1.0 0.5 1.7

    ADP: 17.9/20.9 (Yahoo/ESPN) | Total Value: 4/4 (8/9-cat) | Per-Game Value: 5/5 (8/9-cat)

    Maxeyโ€™s production is somewhat boosted by an insane number of minutes per game (38.0), but at the same time, you have to compliment his conditioning and fitness to play in 70 games while maintaining the playing time. He posted career-best numbers in every counting stat, including points (28.3), threes (3.1), rebounds (4.1), assists (6.6), steals (1.9) and blocks (0.8), while maintaining his norms for FG% (.461) and 3P% (.367) on the highest volume of his career, alongside a career-best percentage from the free-throw line (.892). Maxey did slow down a little as the campaign progressed, but even at his worst, he maintained mid-first-round value and if his trend of improving in every season of his career continues, he should likely be in consideration for a first-round pick.

    Paul George
    SF, Philadelphia Sixers
    SeasonTeamGPGSMPG FGMFGAFG% FTMFTAFT% 3PTM3PTA3PT% PTSREBAST STLBLKTO
    25-26 PHI 37 37 30.7 6.1 13.9 43.9 2.5 3.0 82.0 2.7 6.9 39.2 17.3 5.3 3.6 1.7 0.4 1.7
    24-25 PHI 41 41 32.5 6.0 13.9 43.0 1.9 2.4 81.4 2.3 6.5 35.8 16.2 5.3 4.3 1.8 0.5 2.6
    23-24 LAC 74 74 33.8 7.9 16.7 47.1 3.6 3.9 90.7 3.3 7.9 41.3 22.6 5.2 3.5 1.5 0.5 2.1

    ADP: 81.9/100.7 (Yahoo/ESPN) | Total Value: 193/182 (8/9-cat) | Per-Game Value: 50/34 (8/9-cat)

    George only managed to appear in 37 games due to a 25-game suspension and minor injuries throughout the season, so he is outside of the top-180 by totals, unfortunately. The per-game performances are impressive, but they were partially elevated by his late-season surge after his return from the suspension on March 25. Before that, George was averaging 16.0 points (.424 FG%, .855 FT%), 2.4 triples, 5.2 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.5 steals and 0.5 blocks in 30.5 MPG (27 games) for top-50 9-cat and top-70 8-cat value per game. There was a bit of ramping up from injuries involved in those numbers, but that should come with the territory for George at this point in his career.

    After having 53 days off due to the suspension, over the final 10 games of the regular season, George averaged 21.0 points (.472 FG%, .743 FT%), 3.4 triples, 5.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 2.2 steals, 0.3 blocks and 2.0 turnovers as the No. 21/25 player per game in that stretch, which drove up his final finish in the rankings a bit. That post-suspension stretch comprised of 27 percent of the games he played during the season. While George looked similarly impressive in many of the Sixers’ playoff games, it is difficult to put that expectation on him across an 82-game season, given his injury history. It was good to see that he “still has a higher gear,” but you still have to consider the potential for absences in his draft-day valuation.

    VJ Edgecombe
    SG, Philadelphia Sixers
    SeasonTeamGPGSMPG FGMFGAFG% FTMFTAFT% 3PTM3PTA3PT% PTSREBAST STLBLKTO
    25-26 PHI 75 75 35.0 6.0 13.7 43.8 2.0 2.4 81.8 2.0 5.6 35.4 16.0 5.6 4.2 1.4 0.5 1.8

    ADP: 135.6/134.0 (Yahoo/ESPN) | Total Value: 40/38 (8/9-cat) | Per-Game Value: 64/60 (8/9-cat)

    This is just a sneak peek of the Season Wrap. The entire roster is covered, as well as the Fantasy Star, Letdown, One to Watch and One Burning Question for this team.ย You’ll need to have an Ethos 360, All-Sport or NBA FantasyPass membership. Click here to learn more and sign up!ย Premium Access Required

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    June 1, 2026, 9:54 pm