Undoing the goodwill of a 3-1 series comeback to beat your biggest rival in a playoff series for the first time in nearly 45 years is hard to do, yet it feels like the Sixers did so in the span of a week.
Getting thoroughly trounced in the second round by the New York Knicks — setting a record for most 30+ point losses in a playoff run in the process — made the fanbase lose the “house money” mentality they were treating the postseason with during the Boston series.
The result of this season was just
another in what’s become a long line of second-round exits, but the 2025-26 Sixers showed more fight, heart and camaraderie than any team of the Joel Embiid era. To some extent, their efforts should be celebrated.
With ownership feeling the need for a front office change after the season, it just shows how hard this group had to fight to accomplish what they did. They had to deal with Embiid again being available for less than half the games, a Paul George suspension just as they were gaining momentum, and a front office that not only ignored the team’s plea to improve at the trade deadline, but shipped off a popular young player in the locker room for no player in return.
Through it all, the Sixers were able to win 45 games, make the playoffs and beat a team that won over 50 games in a series for the first time in Embiid’s career.
Every step of the way, the players would cite the resiliency of the group — a cliche that gets thrown around a lot, but not a quality many Embiid-led Sixers teams have had after years of constant roster turnover. Ironically, it was during the disastrous 24-win season where it felt like that element was there for the Sixers. It just took an extra year and retaining 11 players from that team for it to translate to wins.
“You know what’s funny? Our chemistry off the court last year wasn’t bad, like we like each other,” Tyrese Maxey said after a win in January. “I think the biggest thing is we’re healthy. I think we got to the space where it doesn’t matter who’s on the court.”
That chemistry made a noticeable difference in what they were able to accomplish. They became the first group in franchise history to come back from a 3-1 deficit in a playoff series. While they were doing so, guys like Maxey made sure to shoutout the guys who weren’t getting playing time in that series, but were being a great support system on the bench.
When he went on the radio to discuss his report that Daryl Morey and Nick Nurse’s jobs may be in jeopardy, Tony Jones of the Athletic said, “… if you knew some of the stuff they went through internally, I honestly thought it was amazing they won 45 games. This wasn’t a smooth year, but I also think it definitely shows how much this group likes each other.”
The conclusive defeat to New York showed how far this current Sixers roster is from truly competing for a title. Now that the offseason is here, there’s plenty of time to debate the best way to try to get back to that, but it’s important to remember no one had expectations in that ballpark before the start of the season. No one, this blog included, knew what to make of their preseason over/under win total.
At the beginning of the year, any fan would have signed up for a season that both netted a record over .500 and Embiid feeling like he has his left knee situation figured out. They would have been over the moon at the prospect of a VJ Edgecombe rookie season so promising he started every game he appeared in and was a major contributor in wins — and one that culminated in a 23-point performance in Game 7 against the Celtics.
The existential threats of Embiid and George’s contracts make it harder to get excited about a Maxey-Edgecombe led future. The fact that those two guards aren’t exactly on the same timeline makes it tricky as well. The next president of basketball operations the team brings in will have their work cut out for them, but this year’s team showed how much easier it is to watch a team that both fights and cares.
