The Sixers’ hot start has been built on a few different pillars, and the two free-agent additions from July are already looking like smart bets.
Dean Wade, who signed a four-year, $39 million deal, has settled in as a steady defensive presence while averaging 26.3 minutes per game. He’s also swiping 1.9 steals a night, and Tyrese Maxey made it clear how much the team values his versatility.
“He’s in the position where some nights he’ll start, some nights he won’t start, some nights he’ll play five, some nights he’ll guard Jalen Brunson, he’ll guard [ Karl-Anthony Towns ]. He’s - I love Dean Wade,” Maxey said.
Anfernee Simons, who came aboard on a two-year, $12.3 million contract, has had a quieter stretch in his last two games, but the overall picture still looks encouraging. In the three games before that, he was averaging 20 points, and Nick Nurse said the guard’s shooting gravity changes the way the offense can function.
“He’s got it,” coach Nick Nurse said. “He’s a speed shooter.
You can run him off a bunch of stuff and he doesn’t need a lot of space. And that opens up a lot of other avenues offensively once you kind of get used to him.”
Philadelphia’s 8-1 start has also put Tyrese Maxey in the MVP conversation, at least early. Maxey said his offseason was built around sharpening the parts of his game that matter most when everything tightens up late.
“It was a long offseason for me,” Maxey said. “I worked on a lot.
I wanted to work on a lot. I worked on my passing.
I worked on my isolation scoring and my late-game scoring. I wanted to be able to come back with a move that I could get to late in games, because I knew we were going to need it.
I knew we would need it, and I knew that I would be ready to do it.”
That work has shown up in the numbers. Maxey is averaging 28 points on 48.6 percent shooting and 5.4 assists.
The Sixers head into Friday’s game against the Cavaliers with a crowd that figures to be loud. LeBron James left Cleveland to sign with Philadelphia, and Wade said he expects the atmosphere to reflect that history.
“In my seven years here, anytime that LeBron came back it was just a madhouse. It was crazy.
The fans were awesome. So I expect that is what tonight’s going to be like,” he said.
James, meanwhile, is trying to keep the bigger-picture talk in check. After Philadelphia’s road win in Detroit on Wednesday, he pushed back on any rush to start discussing the Finals.
“It’s too early to be talking about the Finals and things of that nature on Nov. 4,” James said after Philadelphia’s road win in Detroit on Wednesday.
“So we’ll continue just to buy into what we want to do. … We got a good team.
Guys vibe with one another, guys like each other, guys enjoy being around each other.”
For now, the record speaks loudly enough. The Sixers are 7-0 in clutch games, defined as contests in which the teams have been within five points in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter. They haven’t needed a one-possession finish to get there, but five of their eight wins have come by six points or fewer.
Still, Zach Harper noted that teams with championship ambitions usually don’t spend a ton of time in those tight regular-season finishes. That doesn’t change what Philadelphia has done so far, but it does add another layer to an already intriguing start.
In Other News...
Pistons Fans Have Every Reason To Be Furious After Embiid Incident
The night in Detroit had the feel of a routine road win for Philadelphia until Joel Embiids physical play turned the focus elsewhere. In the middle of the game against the Pistons, Embiid kicked Jaden Cunningham in the groin on a play that drew no immediate whistle, a sequence that quickly became the kind of moment the home crowd was never going to let go.
Embiid later picked up a technical foul for pushing Tolu Smith, and the league eventually retroactively assessed the earlier kick as a Flagrant 1. He still finished with 26 points and 15 rebounds as the 76ers moved to 8-1, but the box score only tells part of the story from a game that left Detroit with plenty to gripe about after the fact. [Read more 🡒]
Sixers May Have No Choice With Joel Embiid Against Cleveland
Adem Bonas cervical spine sprain has quickly complicated the Sixers frontcourt picture heading into the matchup with Cleveland. After taking an elbow to the head in the recent game, Bona is listed as doubtful, and Philadelphia suddenly looks thin behind Joel Embiid at a position where depth was already going to matter against a Cavaliers team that can punish teams inside.
Embiid has been on a minutes restriction, but he was needed for 33 minutes in the last game once Bona went down. If Bona cannot go, the Sixers may not have much choice but to lean more heavily on Embiid again, even with the long-term caution that has guided his workload. [Read more 🡒]
Sixers Front Office Just Made One Bet Fans Need To See
Mike Gansey wasted little time putting his stamp on the Sixers after the 2026 NBA Draft, and the early message from the new President of Basketball Operations is clear: this roster is going to look different. Philadelphia chose not to retain Quentin Grimes or Kelly Oubre Jr., then moved to add Dean Wade on a four-year deal while also pursuing Anfernee Simons as part of a broader push to improve the teams three-point shooting.
Wade has already voiced confidence in Gansey and in the fit with Philadelphia, which matters for a team trying to reset its rotation and sharpen its identity heading into next season. The bigger question now is how far Gansey is willing to go in reshaping the group around that vision, and whether the Sixers recent moves are the start of a cleaner, more balanced roster or just the first step in a longer overhaul. [Read more 🡒]