The Sixers opened the preseason with a convincing 120-97 win over the defending champion Knicks on Monday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena, and the biggest takeaway came before halftime: Jaylen Brown was already in rhythm.
Brown poured in 22 points in the first half and then spent the second half on the bench, after doing most of his damage as the centerpiece of the offense. He opened the scoring burst with a baseline jumper that put the Sixers ahead 7-4, then kept attacking in isolation and finished the first quarter with 13 points on 5-for-8 shooting. For a team still sorting out its preseason rotations, Brown looked like the player who can tilt things no matter who is on the floor with him.
The Sixers, meanwhile, were missing a long list of players. LeBron James, Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, Anfernee Simons, Dominick Barlow, Adem Bona and Tacko Fall all sat out.
Bona was out with a left foot sprain and Fall with a left hip strain. Before the game, head coach Nick Nurse said Barlow was dealing with a minor back injury and Simons had “muscle tightness,” and he expected both to get on the floor soon.
Simons had worked out with Brown after the team’s Monday morning shootaround.
Nurse also said he expects most of the Sixers’ key players to appear in at least two of their four preseason games. The next one comes Thursday night on the road against the Nets.
The night turned quickly for Ariel Hukporti, who started at center alongside VJ Edgecombe, Brown, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Dean Wade. Hukporti set up the Sixers’ first basket with a clean pass to Wade for a backdoor layup, but he didn’t get through the opening quarter.
While guarding Karl-Anthony Towns on the perimeter, Hukporti went down awkwardly with what looked like a right lower leg or ankle injury. He needed heavy help from Towns and Sixers teammates to get to the sideline and left at the 7:06 mark of the first.
That forced Jabari Walker into the middle, and he made the most of the opportunity. He immediately knocked down a top-of-the-key three, battled on the glass, added two more triples and finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds in 19 minutes.
Wade also spent time at center as the Sixers tried to patch things together in the frontcourt. With Embiid sitting and Bona still working back, the team is thin at the position for now, and Hukporti’s status looms large.
Brown wasn’t the only Sixer who looked comfortable. Edgecombe handled a lot of the creation duties next to him and turned in a clean, steady performance: 12 points, seven assists and zero turnovers.
The first bench player in for the Sixers was rookie Labaron Philon Jr., who immediately knocked down a mid-range jumper. He showed good instincts with the ball, including a drive-and-kick pass in the second quarter that led to a Rayan Rupert three.
Philon finished with six points on 2-for-9 shooting and four assists in his preseason debut. At 20, he still has plenty to learn about dealing with NBA size and athleticism, but the tools are there.
Rupert and Caleb Love, both on two-way contracts, shared the floor with Philon in the first half, and Love’s shot-making stood out. He buried his third long-range jumper of the second quarter with a buzzer-beater right in front of the Sixers’ bench, stretching the lead to 14. With the major names resting on both sides, the Sixers stayed in control after halftime.
Love ended with 15 points on 4-for-10 shooting. If he can become more efficient from three, that would be a meaningful step after he shot 32.6 percent from deep over five college seasons and 31.8 percent last year.
In Other News...
Joel Embiid Got Pulled Into A Strange LeBron Rumor Fast
The 76ers preseason opener briefly turned into an odd side story when broadcaster Mike Breen said he had heard Joel Embiid was a few minutes late to a recent practice and was confronted by LeBron James. It was the kind of stray detail that can take on a life of its own in October, especially when it involves one of the leagues biggest names and a Philadelphia star already under a bright spotlight as the team starts laying groundwork for the season ahead.
LeBron James later shut the report down on social media, saying Embiid had not been late. So the rumor did not linger long, but it still added a strange wrinkle to a night meant to be about the 76ers getting back into game mode. Philadelphia now moves on to the rest of its preseason schedule and, eventually, the start of the 2026-27 regular season with the usual attention on Embiid and everything that follows him. [Read more 🡒]
Sixers May Have A Low-Risk Answer To Their New Frontcourt Problem
The Clippers decision to waive two-way center Jamarion Sharp has put a familiar kind of low-cost big man on the market at exactly the moment the Sixers need one. Philadelphia has an open two-way roster spot, and with Ariel Hukporti injured, frontcourt depth has become a more immediate concern than it was just a few days ago.
Sharp brings a profile the Sixers could find appealing: a 7-foot-5 developmental center with strong defensive numbers in the G League and the sort of rim protection that can at least help stabilize minutes in a pinch. The question now is whether Philadelphia sees enough upside to use that two-way slot on another project, or whether it keeps looking for a more ready-made answer to its frontcourt problem. [Read more 🡒]
Caleb Love Is Giving The 76ers A Roster Problem They'd Love
Caleb Love arrived in Philadelphia on a two-way deal, but he has already started making that arrangement feel temporary. After a solid rookie season with the Portland Trail Blazers, where he carved out a real rotation role, Love has carried that momentum into camp and looked like a player who belongs in a bigger conversation. In a recent preseason game, he put up 15 points and added contributions across the board, giving the Sixers another guard option with some two-way versatility.
For a team that is always balancing immediate expectations with long-term roster flexibility, that kind of production creates a good problem. Love has shown enough early to make the Sixers think about whether his role should grow if this keeps up, and whether a standard NBA contract might become the natural next step. For now, Philadelphia gets to keep evaluating, but the early returns are making it harder to treat him like just another depth piece. [Read more 🡒]