The 76ers got a reminder they can’t ignore before training camp even starts: their safety net behind Joel Embiid is awfully thin.
Adem Bona has suffered a foot sprain and will be reevaluated in two weeks, right before camp opens. The timeline is encouraging enough on paper, but the bigger issue is what the injury scare exposed. Philadelphia does not have much margin for error at center, and that’s a problem for a team built around a star with a long injury history.
Right now, the only backup centers on the roster are Bona and Ariel Hukporti. That’s not much experience to lean on for a team that may need someone to absorb real minutes if Embiid misses time.
Bona logged 17.4 minutes per game for the Sixers last season, while Hukporti averaged 9.2 minutes per game for the New York Knicks. Neither has played enough NBA basketball to look like a finished answer.
That matters even more because Embiid is entering what could be the most important season of his career. He has already won an MVP, and when he’s on the floor, he remains one of the best centers in NBA history.
But the problem has always been availability. He has missed a ton of games, and that reality has shaped the way the Sixers have to build around him.
Philadelphia has put together an elite roster, one of the most talented in recent NBA memory. But talent only goes so far if the team can’t survive the minutes Embiid doesn’t play. That’s where the current center room looks vulnerable.
The Sixers need a veteran who can steady things and handle quality NBA minutes. They don’t have that yet. And with Bona now set for another evaluation in two weeks, the depth issue is even harder to brush aside.
If Philadelphia doesn’t address it, this could be a long season.
In Other News...
Sixers Just Got A Wild Reminder About One Bargain Contract
A fresh reminder of how the basketball market has shifted landed with an odd twist for the Sixers: according to Eurohoops, several EuroLeague veterans are projected to out-earn LeBron James in the 2026-27 season. The comparison is eye-catching on its own, but it lands even harder in Philadelphia because two of the names in that group have direct Sixers ties in Vasilije Micic and Guerschon Yabusele.
Micic, who was drafted by the Sixers but never suited up for them, is expected to make $5.6 million with Hapoel Tel Aviv, while Yabusele is projected at $5 million with Panathinaikos in Greece. For a franchise that has spent years trying to maximize every roster spot and salary slot, it is a useful reminder that not every expensive basketball name is found in the NBA, and not every familiar one is cashing checks here. [Read more 🡒]
Sixers Have A Real Backup Center Option Worth Watching In Miami
The Sixers are still carrying an open roster spot, but any addition would require a corresponding move, which keeps the front office in wait-and-see mode for now. One name worth watching is Nick Richards, a veteran center with the Heat who could fit Philadelphias need for a backup big if the situation in Miami breaks the right way.
For the Sixers, the appeal is simple: they have enough matching salaries on the roster to make a deal work if Richards becomes available, whether that happens because he does not make Miamis final cut or later in the season after Dec. 15. Nothing has been set in motion yet, but with the team still able to improve its frontcourt depth, this is the kind of situation that could quietly stay on the radar. [Read more 🡒]
76ers May Have Avoided A Risk They Couldnt Afford
Matisse Thybulles departure from Philadelphia looks like the kind of call that can age well for a front office. Over the past two seasons, he has had trouble staying on the floor, appearing in only 45 games, and that kind of availability issue can be hard for a team to absorb when it is trying to manage both its rotation and its salary cap.
The 76ers opted not to re-sign the former wing this offseason, a decision that now looks tied as much to durability as to talent. Thybulle has since landed with the Los Angeles Lakers on a one-year contract, leaving Philadelphia to move on without committing to a player whose defense has long been intriguing but whose health has made him a tougher fit to keep around. [Read more 🡒]