The 76ers’ ceiling this season won’t just be decided by Joel Embiid, Paul George or LeBron James. It’s going to hinge on what happens when the starters sit down.
That’s the part of roster building that gets glossed over when people talk about contenders. The headlines always go to the stars, the chemistry, the health. But over the course of an 82-game season, the bench is where teams either hold the line or start leaking points.
Philadelphia knows that better than most. Embiid remains one of the league’s most injury-prone players, and James is now the oldest player on the roster at 41 years old.
That kind of mileage adds up fast, especially when the season starts grinding on. For the Sixers, keeping those legs fresh will matter as much as any matchup detail.
Last season made the point pretty clearly. Embiid missed 44 games with injuries, and George missed 45 games, including 25 because of suspension.
When two starters are out for more than half a season, everything gets harder. The margin for error shrinks, and the bench has to do more than just survive minutes.
That’s where Philadelphia has struggled in recent years. The Sixers finished 25th in bench scoring in 2024-25 and slipped to 27th in 2025-26.
Meanwhile, the starting group was producing at a much higher level, ranking sixth in points in 2025-26 and 14th in 2024-25. That gap has been impossible to ignore.
The starters have done their part; the second unit hasn’t been able to match it.
The hope now is that the group around the stars is finally better equipped to help. The Sixers added Anfernee Simons, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and rookie Labaron Philon Jr., giving the bench more scoring punch, more shooting and more versatility than it had before.
Simons stands out as the most intriguing piece of that makeover. He averaged 14.3 points last season off the bench with the Boston Celtics and Chicago Bulls, and his shooting and three-level scoring helped the Celtics finish as the second seed in the East without Jayson Tatum.
He also brings something else that matters: he can handle starter-level usage if the team needs it. His run as a starter with the Portland Trail Blazers gave him the experience to absorb bigger minutes and a heavier scoring load.
There’s still a hole in the frontcourt behind the starters. The Sixers are missing an experienced backup big who can protect the rim and anchor the defense after Andre Drummond’s departure. That remains a real issue.
Still, this bench looks more functional than the one Philadelphia has rolled out in recent seasons. And with James likely to get strategic rest, including possible time off on back-to-backs and managed minutes, that depth won’t be optional.
The starting lineup has the firepower. The question is whether the bench can keep the whole operation from wobbling when the stars come off the floor.
This season should answer that. If the Sixers are going to get where they want to go, they’ll need more than five players to carry them there.
In Other News...
V.J. Edgecombe Could Be Crucial To The 76ers' Chemistry Fast
With LeBron James, Jaylen Brown and Anfernee Simons all joining the mix, the 76ers are heading into the season with a roster that looks a lot different and a lot more demanding than the one they had before. For V.J. Edgecombe, that means the early work is about more than sharpening his own game. He is spending time on shooting drills and practice while trying to fit into a group that suddenly has a very different feel, even as his strong numbers from last season give him a foundation to build on.
Edgecombe has already started connecting with his new teammates, and there is real value in that before the games even matter. The 76ers are still in the part of the process where chemistry has to be built, not assumed, and a young player learning alongside established names can speed that up in a hurry. Edgecombe has sounded upbeat about absorbing what he can from the veterans around him, which is exactly the sort of small but important step Philadelphia will need as it looks ahead to the 2026-27 season. [Read more 🡒]
James Harden Reopened A Painful 76ers Debate Fans Never Resolved
James Hardens latest comments have pulled an old 76ers conversation back into the open. After signing a three-year, $97 million deal with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Harden reflected on the sacrifices he made in Brooklyn and Philadelphia in pursuit of a championship, and the regret that came with them. For Sixers fans, it is a familiar and uncomfortable reminder of a short partnership that arrived with huge expectations and ended with plenty of frustration.
His time in Philadelphia was always going to be judged through two lenses: the front-office friction that came with it and what happened on the floor when the postseason pressure hit. Hardens run with the Sixers included conflict behind the scenes and a 2023 playoff showing that left the organization with more questions than answers. Even now, with Harden moved on, the debate around what Philadelphia got out of the deal and what it gave up in the process still does not feel fully settled. [Read more 🡒]
76ers Have A Contender Problem Most NBA Teams Would Envy
The 76ers have spent the offseason building something that looks, at least on paper, like the kind of roster most teams would love to have. With a starting five that includes Jaylen Brown and LeBron James, Philadelphia has real star power and the sort of depth that should keep it in the mix all season, even if the leagues conversation has already started to zero in on how the pieces fit at the top.
CBS Sports still ranked the Sixers top duos only fifth among NBA teams, a reminder that contender status in this league is often decided by how well the best two players stack up against the rest of the field. The Oklahoma City Thunder, New York Knicks, Denver Nuggets and San Antonio Spurs all landed higher, a list shaped in part by recent championship success, and it leaves Philadelphia with a familiar kind of pressure heading into the new season: finding the right leading combination before the games start to matter most. [Read more 🡒]