With James Harden’s trade request hanging over them, the Sixers could be in an early-season limbo.
The Philadelphia 76ers should be rolling along. They have the reigning Kia MVP, they had the league’s third-best record last season and they’re one of two teams that have reached the conference semifinals in each of the last three years.
But James Harden, who forced his way to Philly just 20 months ago, wants out. And there’s little chance that the Sixers can get equal value in return should they trade him. So what was a title contender is suddenly facing a fall.
What’s new?
- Harden surprisingly exercised his player option … and demanded a trade, threatening the Sixers’ ability to remain among the best teams in the Eastern Conference.
- Nick Nurse, who beat the Sixers on the way to the Raptors’ 2019 championship, was hired to replace Doc Rivers, who couldn’t get them past the conference semis in his three seasons.
- They re-signed Paul Reed and added some minimum contracts to fill out the bench, with Kelly Oubre Jr. (20.3 points per game with Charlotte last season) having the biggest opportunity to make an impact.
How far can the Sixers go?
This team’s potential certainly depends on what happens with Harden in the next four months. The addition of Nurse and the youth of Tyrese Maxey offer the potential for improvement, and if Harden was happy and ready to go, the Sixers would be among the teams that could win a championship. Alas…
1 player that must take a leap
Tyrese Maxey. Maxey has already shown some dramatic improvement in his three seasons and is one of only four players who’ve shot 40% or better on at least 300 3-point attempts in each of the last two. But if Harden is unavailable (or if the Sixers don’t get a starting point guard in a trade), the 22-year-old will need to handle the ball a lot more and create good shots for Joel Embiid and the rest of the rotation.
In-Season Tournament
The Sixers are in East Group A. Here’s a refresher on how the In-Season Tournament works.
Upcoming free agents
The Sixers have 12 potential free agents in 2024.
- Mo Bamba
- Patrick Beverley
- Ricky Council IV (two-way player)
- James Harden
- Montrezl Harrell
- Tobias Harris
- Danuel House Jr.
- Furkan Korkmaz
- Tyrese Maxey (restricted)
- De’Anthony Melton
- Terquavion Smith (two-way player)
- Azuolas Tubelis (two-way player)
That’s almost everybody, with Embiid being the big exception. Maxey is certainly the one they want to keep long term, but the goal of having as much cap space in 2024 has prevented the Sixers from signing him to an extension in 2023. The Sixers could undergo (another) massive overhaul, but there are few free agents better than the ones they already have.
Philadelphia’s full roster can be found here.
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John Schuhmann is a senior stats analyst for NBA.com. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on Twitter.
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