The NBA picked a loud stage for the new-look Philadelphia 76ers to open the 2026-2027 season, and the setup could hardly be more pointed: opening night at Madison Square Garden against the New York Knicks, with a championship banner going up in front of them.
That means the Sixers are heading straight into a rivalry atmosphere, and they’ll be asked to watch one of their biggest opponents celebrate last season’s title before the game even tips. For Joel Embiid, that sounds like exactly the sort of pregame scene he’d rather avoid. After Philadelphia’s preseason finale against the Boston Celtics, he made his stance clear.
"I don't really feel like watching that whole ceremony," Embiid told reporters. "Guess I'll be in the locker room."
It’s a fair reaction, but the moment also presents a pretty obvious chance to turn irritation into fuel. Different players get motivated in different ways, and this is the kind of scene that can stick in a locker room and follow a team onto the floor.
LeBron James might hate-watch it. Joel Embiid should too.
There’s a case to be made that a team like the Sixers needs time to grow into something bigger, especially when the roster is being built around major moves and new pieces. The Knicks are the example here: they pieced together their core through free agency and trades, and even then it took more than one season for everything to click.
But Philadelphia doesn’t exactly have the luxury of waiting around. LeBron James is supposed to be a needle-mover, and he’ll be 42 by playoff time.
There’s also the possibility he could leave the Sixers after the season. Then there’s Embiid, whose future is impossible to take for granted after years of heavy usage and endless injuries.
So for this group, the mindset has to be immediate. This year is about chasing a championship.
Tuesday night will also give the Sixers a first of sorts: it’s the third time they’ll play a team that is raising a championship banner, but it will be the first time Embiid experiences it. And if a banner ceremony can sharpen a team’s edge, this is the kind of moment that should do it.
The Sixers also have a little history hanging over this one. They came into the 2026 NBA Playoffs riding the high of a comeback win over the Boston Celtics in round one, only to get flattened by the Knicks, who swept Philadelphia before going on to win the title. That kind of ending tends to linger.
Yes, it’s only one game in an 82-game season. No one can live at the extremes for that long.
But Embiid ought to treat this like more than a normal opener. If there’s any extra edge to be found, this is the place to find it.
In Other News...
76ers Already Have A Joel Embiid Problem They Couldnt Hide
The season opener offered a reminder that the 76ers biggest question may not be about their stars, but about what happens when Joel Embiid has to take a breather. Against the Knicks, Philadelphia looked exposed behind him as Adem Bona and Jabari Walker had a tough time dealing with Andre Drummond, a matchup that quickly turned into a problem the Sixers could not paper over for long. Injuries already have thinned the center group, and the team had to get creative just to survive stretches without its anchor in the paint.
Philadelphias depth chart at the position now feels like something worth watching closely, especially if the early-season rotation has to lean on stopgap answers more than expected. The Sixers can live with a lot when Embiid is on the floor, but the opener showed how quickly the matchup can tilt once he is not, and it left an obvious question hanging over the roster: whether this team will need to find more reliable help at center before those minutes decide a game again. [Read more 🡒]
Nick Nurse Still Has A Knicks Grudge The 76ers Havent Settled
The 76ers have already made their presence felt against New York once this season, walking out of Madison Square Garden with a 106-100 win that spoiled the Knicks ring and banner ceremony. For Philadelphia, it was more than just an early-season road victory. It was the kind of result that still carries some extra edge for a team that has spent time looking back at what happened against the Knicks in the playoffs.
Nick Nurse has not completely let go of that loss in the Eastern Conference semifinals, and the frustration around it still lingers as the two teams measure themselves again. Philadelphia has also reworked its roster with Jaylen Brown and LeBron James in the mix, giving the club more ways to navigate the season if Joel Embiid misses time. Even so, the Knicks remain a familiar source of unfinished business for a coach who clearly has not moved on from the last postseason meeting. [Read more 🡒]
Paul George Just Reopened An Uncomfortable 76ers Debate
Paul Georges first night in Boston looked a lot like the kind of performance the 76ers spent a season hoping to see more often. In the Celtics season opener, George poured in 38 points and added five rebounds, three assists and five steals, immediately looking like a player with more room to operate than he ever consistently found in Philadelphia. The fit was different from the start, with Boston putting him in a larger role and giving him the freedom to play like a primary option alongside Jayson Tatum.
For the 76ers, it reopened an uncomfortable question about what exactly went wrong during Georges time in Philadelphia. Injuries were part of the answer, but so were the team dynamics around him, which never seemed to let his game breathe in the way it did against his new backdrop. If this is the beginning of a resurgence, it only sharpens the sense that the Sixers may have watched a different version of George emerge just as he moved on. [Read more 🡒]