The Philadelphia 76ers’ offseason has been defined by one move more than any splashy addition: they fired Daryl Morey.
That decision now looks like the move that unlocked everything else. Once Morey was out, Bob Myers took on a larger role and new general manager Mike Gansey reshaped the roster.
From there, the Sixers somehow turned Paul George’s disastrous contract into Jaylen Brown, then used that move to land LeBron James. Gansey’s connection with James from their Cleveland days helped, and the Brown deal also boosted Philadelphia’s title chances before setting up the LeBron addition.
Morey’s final stretch in charge did little to change the big picture. Since the 2025 trade deadline, his notable moves were trading for Quentin Grimes and dumping Jared McCain. He deserves credit for drafting Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe, but the rest of the roster work never came close to championship quality.
The Sixers’ split with Morey makes even more sense when you look at the bigger résumé. Philadelphia won 56 percent of its regular-season games under him and reached the playoffs five times in six years, but the standard in Philly was always higher than that.
The team had already made the postseason three straight times before he arrived, and it still hasn’t gotten past the second round. Morey built a contender in Houston, but he has gone 19 years without a championship as a lead executive.
Now the Sixers have gone from a shocking first-round upset of the Celtics to adding Brown and LeBron in the span of three months. That kind of turnaround is hard to miss. The roster now looks like a real problem for the East, with what could be the best starting five in the NBA and added depth to support it.
Dean Wade, Anfernee Simons, and Labaron Philon give Philadelphia more options for a playoff rotation, though health remains the giant question hanging over everything. If the group stays on the floor, the Sixers have the kind of talent that can bother just about anybody in the conference.
The larger point is simple: this version of the Sixers was built around maximizing the roster, not just stacking numbers. Brown is a clear upgrade over Paul George, and that trade opened the door for LeBron to choose Philadelphia. The GOAT decided against retirement to join the Sixers, and none of it happens if Morey is still running the show.
Philadelphia now looks like a team that has moved from a two-timeline approach to the middle of the Eastern Conference title conversation. It took two bold swings and the belief that LeBron James was actually within reach. The Sixers pulled it off, and the payoff could still get bigger.
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Kevin Durant Just Escalated The LeBron Backlash Even More
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The exchange quickly widened beyond one roster decision, with Durant taking on the usual ring-chasing arguments and the familiar comparisons to other all-time stars. He also kept the conversation moving toward James place in basketball history, a topic that never stays quiet for long, and the response he drew from fans showed just how quickly this kind of discussion can spill into something bigger. [Read more 🡒]
Andre Drummond Had An Awkward Reaction To The Sixers' New Look
Andre Drummonds exit from Philadelphia already made for a notable East Coast subplot, and the timing only got more awkward once the 76ers reshaped their roster with the additions of LeBron James and Jaylen Brown. Drummond, who recently landed with the New York Knicks after leaving the Sixers, had enough of a social media reaction to make clear he noticed the turn of events, even if he kept it light.
He also made a point of calming any overreading of the moment, signaling that he is content with where he is now. Still, in a division where the Knicks and Sixers will keep seeing each other, the comparison is hard to avoid, and Drummonds reaction adds a little extra edge to a matchup that already figures to draw plenty of attention. [Read more 🡒]
Grizzlies May Be On Verge Of Another Veteran Exit With KCP
After landing Jaylen Brown and signing LeBron James to a two-year deal, Philadelphia is still working the edges of its roster, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has emerged as a name worth watching. The veteran guard brings the kind of two-way profile teams tend to value in July, with the ability to space the floor and hold up on the perimeter, which makes him a natural fit for a club that is clearly trying to bolster its depth around its new stars.
The 76ers are also expected to keep looking for one or two more veteran-minimum additions to round out the bench, so this is hardly a one-name pursuit. Caldwell-Popes situation in Memphis is the part to monitor, because if he becomes available, Philadelphia would have another experienced option to plug into a rotation that already looks very different than it did a few weeks ago. [Read more 🡒]