The 76ers opened the season with a road win over the Knicks, and that’s the kind of result that grabs attention. Even in a game that wasn’t sharp across the board, Philadelphia found enough answers to get its first victory. But buried inside that encouraging start was a warning sign the team can’t ignore: the three-point shooting looked rough again.
Philadelphia went just 11-for-40 from deep against New York, a 27.5 percent clip that would be hard to brush off in any game, let alone one that came with playoff vibes. The rotation was shortened by a revolving door of injuries, which made it harder to find hot hands, but the bigger issue is that this wasn’t just a one-night hiccup. The perimeter shooting had already been a problem throughout preseason, and opening night suggested the same issue is still hanging around.
Tyrese Maxey, Jaylen Brown, Joel Embiid, Anfernee Simons, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope each knocked down at least two threes, but none of them were particularly efficient from long range. On the other side of the ledger, LeBron James and VJ Edgecombe both went empty from beyond the arc.
The offseason brought Philadelphia a wave of big names, but not a ton of dependable high-volume shooting. Outside of Simons, the front office didn’t really add a player who fits that label cleanly. Dean Wade and KCP aren’t volume gunners, and Brown and James have long been shaky from three.
What makes the opening-night win interesting is that the 76ers still beat an elite opponent while shooting poorly. That’s a positive, sure, but it’s not a formula you want to lean on for long. If the outside shot keeps misfiring, opponents will start crowding the paint and daring Philadelphia’s average to keep launching from deep.
The encouraging part is that some of the fix is already in-house. The hope is that the perimeter players clean things up with more time and more reps, especially as the team continues pushing for a higher three-point volume. If that doesn’t happen, the front office may need to look outside the building and find low-cost help that can steady the offense with shooting.
For now, the message is simple: the 76ers have to solve this three-point issue quickly. As long as it sticks around, the offense is going to look clunky and a lot easier to defend than the star power on paper suggests.
In Other News...
Sixers Home Opener Brings An Early Test They Should Feel
The 76ers first home game of the season arrives with some real weight behind it. After opening by beating the Knicks 106-100 on ring night in New York, Philadelphia comes back to the city for a matchup with a Cavaliers team that has spent the offseason reshaping itself and talking like a contender. For a Sixers group trying to set an early tone, it is the sort of test that should tell them plenty about where they stand.
Cleveland has not been subtle about its ambitions, making major roster changes and bringing in Donovan Mitchell while also adding James Harden. With LeBron James now in Philadelphia, the Cavaliers are carrying added pressure to turn those moves into something more than paper strength, and the home opener gives the Sixers a chance to measure themselves against a team that expects to be in the championship conversation. It is still early, but this is the kind of game that can start to define how serious a season feels. [Read more 🡒]
76ers Shooting Search Could Put A Familiar Name Back In Play
The Lakers decision to waive Dalton Knecht ahead of the roster deadline has put a familiar shooting option back on the market, and the 76ers are now among the teams reportedly keeping an eye on him. For Philadelphia, the appeal is obvious: a young perimeter scorer who showed enough in his rookie season to suggest he can help, even if his role in Los Angeles faded as the year went on.
The bigger question is timing. The 76ers would need to open a roster spot before making a move, but the possibility of adding Knecht later in the season gives them a straightforward path to a potential shooting upgrade without forcing an immediate decision. For a team still weighing ways to add spacing, that makes this one worth watching as the roster picture settles. [Read more 🡒]
76ers May Have Found A Surprising Way To Survive Embiid Minutes
Early in the season, the 76ers are already having to think creatively about their frontcourt rotation, and one of the more unusual ideas on the board has come directly from Joel Embiid. With injuries and limited depth at center forcing the staff to search for answers, the conversation has turned toward using LeBron James as a nominal center in certain lineups, a wrinkle that would give Philadelphia another way to stay afloat when Embiid is off the floor.
The concept is not being framed as a full-time shift, but rather a situational tactic for moments when Embiid is sidelined or in foul trouble. For a team trying to preserve its lineup flexibility and survive the minutes when its anchor is unavailable, it is the sort of unconventional adjustment that can keep games from slipping away while the coaches look for more permanent solutions. [Read more 🡒]