The Sixers’ youth movement comes with a real numbers puzzle.
By the time training camp arrives in late September, Philadelphia will have eight players on the standard roster who are 25 or younger, and that total climbs to 10 if Caleb Love and Rayan Rupert are counted among the two-way players. On the older end, five Sixers will be at least 30 by season’s end, with LeBron James standing alone as the group’s elder at 41.
That leaves the same central question hanging over the roster: which of those younger players actually crack the rotation?
Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe sit in a different tier. They’re the expected starting backcourt, so the real uncertainty starts after them.
The most interesting name in the mix may be Labaron Philon Jr., the No. 22 overall pick in this year’s draft. Nick Nurse’s first impression was that the Alabama guard has enough to contribute right away.
“He’s a really talented scorer,” Nurse said on draft night. “He’s really fast and explosive and can really get it in the bucket.
And I think with a lot of guys that can score, there’s the mentality. The swagger or confidence or something that he has is obviously one of his traits that has served him well.
He played in a system at Alabama that is very pro-style. … And I think he’s certainly got two-way capability.
I think he can guard.”
Philon put up 22.0 points and 5.0 assists per game in his sophomore season, and his quickness and handle showed up in summer league as well. Still, the defensive end will probably decide how quickly he earns Nurse’s trust.
At 176 pounds at the combine, he’s not walking into the league as a finished product on that side. For Nurse, the key will be focus, effort and detail, and Philon will be expected to absorb lessons from Maxey, Edgecombe, Anfernee Simons and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
Justin Edwards has a different path. He doesn’t need to light up the box score to matter. If he keeps knocking down threes, holds his own on the wing and rebounds at a decent clip, that may be enough to stick.
Edwards averaged 6.0 points, 1.5 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 15.3 minutes per game last season. He shot 37.2 percent from deep in the regular season and 22.2 percent in the playoffs, though that postseason mark was softened by some garbage-time misses. Nurse has liked the little things in Edwards’ game over his first two NBA seasons, especially how he finds open space.
“I think I’m just always in the right spot. … I always put myself in the right position,” Edwards said in April.
If he keeps doing that and plays useful basketball, Nurse should notice.
The center battle is another spot where minutes are there for the taking. Adem Bona and Ariel Hukporti look set to compete for backup work behind Joel Embiid, though Bona is dealing with a left foot sprain and will be re-evaluated when camp opens. Both can also slide to power forward in some lineups, but the bigger issue is who earns trust behind Embiid.
Dominick Barlow has a strong case to be the next young player who actually matters in the rotation. He and Jabari Walker both saw most of their time at power forward last season, but Barlow has the clearer path to steady run. Only Maxey and Edgecombe started more regular-season games for the Sixers last year than Barlow, who made 59 starts and averaged 7.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 0.9 steals in 23.8 minutes per game.
His playoff role shrank, and Dean Wade brings a veteran shooting profile the Sixers value, but Barlow still has ways to stay in the mix. He’s shown he can cut smartly next to Embiid, pass out of the short roll and fill the stat sheet with hustle plays - offensive rebounds, steals and blocks.
His 2025-26 season also serves as a reminder that two-way players can’t be dismissed too quickly when projecting a rotation. Barlow opened on opening night, played well in a win over the Celtics and eventually made it obvious by February that he belonged on a standard NBA contract.
Love and Rupert round out the younger group. Love, a 6-foot-3 guard, appeared in 49 NBA games as a rookie with Portland and averaged 10.4 points and 2.5 assists while shooting 38.8 percent from the field and 31.8 percent from three. Rupert, a 6-7 wing with a 7-2 wingspan, has logged 155 NBA games over the last three seasons and posted 4.1 points, 2.3 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 0.5 steals in 14.0 minutes per game.
Neither looks likely to jump established players and claim regular minutes out of the gate. But as always, injuries can change the picture fast, and preseason projections have a way of getting rewritten.
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