As part of its weeklong schedule release (sigh), the NBA announced the schedule for the group-play round of the Emirates NBA Cup on Wednesday.
We already knew that the Sixers were placed into a Group of Death with the New York Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers. Granted, that news quickly got buried by the Sixers trading for Jaylen Brown that same day and signing LeBron James on a veteran-minimum contract a few weeks later.
Now that the dust has finally started to settle on
the offseason, the NBA Cup now looks like a valuable early-season measuring stick for the new-look Sixers. Each opponent will provide a different challenge, but all four figure to be vying for playoff spots this year right alongside the Sixers.
Let’s briefly dive in to what each matchup could tell us about the Sixers early in the year.
Oct. 30 vs. New York Knicks
We found out Tuesday that the Sixers will tip off the season by taking on the reigning champion Knicks in New York on opening night. They’ll face them again 10 days later, except they’ll be back home in Philly for both teams’ NBA Cup opener.
We’ll find out the Sixers’ full schedule Thursday, but in all likelihood, this will be their first chance to face the same opponent for the second time in the 2026-27 season. That means this will be their first chance to make playoff-style adjustments based on what happened in the season opener.
The Knicks’ fan takeover of the Wells Fargo Center in last year’s playoffs is also still a sore spot for the organization. Granted, with LeBron and Brown now in the fold, tickets might be almost as expensive in Philly this season as they are at Madison Square Garden. Still, this will likely be our first chance to see whether Knicks fans are able to pack the stands at the WFC as prominently as they have in past years.
The on-court matchups should be fascinating, too. The Knicks have two elite wing defenders in Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby who figure to draw the primary assignment on Brown and LeBron. Can Skinny Joel Embiid hang with Karl-Anthony Towns, particularly when he floats out to the perimeter? Will Tyrese Maxey look to hunt Jalen Brunson? And can VJ Edgecombe stop Josh Hart from inexplicably shooting 50 percent from deep every time he plays the Sixers?
Last, but certainly not least: Ariel Hukporti Revenge Game loading?
Nov. 6 at Cleveland Cavaliers
The Cavaliers will be a very different matchup for the Sixers than the Knicks stylistically. The Cavs run a double-big lineup with Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, so whichever one of them avoids Embiid as their primary defender should have a clear height advantage.
The Cavaliers also have an elite scoring guard in Donovan Mitchell and an elite passing guard in James Harden, which should keep Maxey and Edgecombe busy defensively. However, the soon-to-be 37-year-old Harden might as well have a bullseye tattooed on his face whenever he’s on defense, as Brunson proved in last year’s playoffs.
Given the “there’s only one ball” concern-trolling surrounding the Sixers, this game should give them an opportunity to prove how they present opponents with an impossible pick-your-poison dilemma. If they relentlessly hunt Harden all night regardless of whom he’s defending, it might force the Cavs to consider pulling him off the floor entirely.
That could be a preview of how the new-look Sixers can maximize their powers while still avoiding the typical your-turn, my-turn tug-of-war that tends to come with superstar tandems.
Nov. 25 vs. Miami Heat
TrueHoop’s David Thorpe is wondering who on the Sixers can stop Giannis Antetokounmpo. This might be their first chance of the season to answer that question.
Like the Cavs, the Heat will trot out a double-big starting lineup with the Greek Freak and Bam Adebayo. That size could prove problematic for the Sixers, who will be on the smaller side with LeBron likely starting at the 4.
But unlike the Cavs, the Heat do not have a star guard to help shoulder some of the scoring load, with all due respect to Davion Mitchell and Pelle Larsson. Barring another 80-point eruption from Adebayo, it’s unclear whether the Heat have the offensive firepower to keep up with the Sixers.
The Heat largely abandoned pick-and-rolls last season, although they’ll presumably reinvent their offense again around Antetokounmpo this year. Luckily, the Sixers will have roughly a month’s worth of games to scout before this Cup showdown, so they shouldn’t be caught totally off guard by any unforeseen wrinkles.
Really, this might come down to whether Antetokounmpo (or Simone Fontecchio?) can go full Superman mode. That’s what would happen in the playoffs, too, so this could be an early-season test for the Sixers in that regard.
Nov. 27 at Indiana Pacers
Given the massive shakeups that happened around the league this offseason, the Pacers are largely flying under the radar heading into the year. Somehow, everyone seems to have memory-holed that they were one win away from winning the 2025 NBA Finals.
Tyrese Haliburton missed the entire 2025-26 campaign to recover from the torn Achilles that he suffered in Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals, but he’ll have more than a month to shake off the rust before this matchup. He’ll also have a new center in Ivica Zubac, whom the Pacers acquired ahead of the February trade deadline.
Zubac played only five games for the Pacers last season, but he and Pascal Siakam should form an imposing frontcourt when healthy. Much like with the Heat and Cavaliers, the Sixers will have to figure out how to counter the size disadvantage they face whenever that duo is on the floor together.
But as their team name would imply, the real concern with the Pacers is their pace. They tend to fly up and down the floor, leveraging their depth to stay fresh. Outside of Embiid, the new-look Sixers should also be a dynamo in transition, but head coach Nick Nurse tends to overplay his starters. That could lead to late-game fatigue against Indiana in particular.
Dec. 4-11: Knockout rounds?
Through the first three iterations of the NBA Cup, the Sixers have yet to advance past the group-play stage. Despite the star power they added this offseason, it won’t be easy for them to snap that trend this year, either. They’ll be working through some early-season kinks while other Eastern Conference title hopefuls aim to send a message against them.
Given the projected strength of their group, it’s hard to imagine any team going 4-0 in group play. A 3-1 record might the best that any team can realistically hope for. Point differential is the tiebreaker for teams with the same record, so the Sixers will have incentive to run up the score in all of their group-play games.
If they make it to the knockout rounds, the quarterfinals and semifinals will be held in normal NBA team markets. The championship is moving out of Las Vegas this year and is headed to Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis instead. And teams in the knockout round also receive a cash prize depending on how far they advance, which is a nice bonus, especially with LeBron playing on a minimum contract this year. (The prize for winning the Cup is more than 1/8 of his total salary!)
The Knicks won the Cup last year and went on to win the actual championship, although the first two Cup champions did not have similar playoff success. So, even if the new-look Sixers fail to bring the Cup to Philly, it doesn’t mean they’re destined for a playoff letdown.
But if the Sixers do go on a deep run in the Cup, they’ll be well ahead of schedule, particularly given the strength of their group in the opening stage.
Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac and salary-cap information via RealGM.
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