Heading into the 2026-27 NBA season, the Philadelphia 76ers look stacked on paper. That does not mean the roster is finished.
As the trade deadline gets closer, the Sixers could still be pushed into the market if the right name pops up. They already made their big swing with a trade for Jaylen Brown, and LeBron James arrived on a minimum contract, which still stands as the biggest free-agent addition of the offseason.
But in the NBA, “complete” is never really complete. Good front offices stay alert, and the rumor mill always finds a few stars worth monitoring.
So when you start sorting through the names that could surface before the 2027 deadline, the question for Philadelphia is simple: which ones are real possibilities, and which ones are just noise?
Kyrie Irving belongs firmly in the noise category.
Bleacher Report included Irving among five stars who could “dominate” trade rumors this season, but a move to Philadelphia does not make sense. The Sixers are fully committed to Tyrese Maxey as a franchise centerpiece, and VJ Edgecombe is close to joining him in that conversation. Irving is too talented to accept a bench role, and there are plenty of teams that could meet his price.
Darius Garland is in a similar bucket. The Clippers are in an unusual place because of the Kawhi Leonard situation, and Garland could draw interest if the rumors heat up. But the Sixers already have two young guards with star-level upside, so this is not the kind of move that fits their current setup.
The next group is a little more realistic, but still a stretch.
Tyler Herro would at least be an interesting fit if he were willing to revisit his Sixth Man days in Philadelphia. Even so, the price tag would likely be too steep, and he may have a clearer path to a starting job elsewhere. That makes him a long shot for the Sixers.
Norman Powell is the likeliest trade candidate on the list, mostly because the Bulls are young and not positioned to chase big things in a crowded Eastern Conference. He is on a $44 million contract, with the second season set as a team option. There is a path where Powell becomes a bench piece for Philadelphia, but that would not happen until another team declines his $22.5 million salary next year and he reaches free agency.
Then there is Anthony Davis, the name that figures to hang around the loudest.
The Wizards have not gotten trade demands from Davis yet, but plenty of people around the league believe he will not be in Washington for the long haul. LeBron’s presence only keeps the rumor chain moving, since his teams always seem to get tied to the closest friends in his orbit.
A lot of analysts and fans think the Sixers would be better off with Davis than Joel Embiid. That chatter is not going away anytime soon.
Still, if Davis is not locked in long term with the Wizards, the rumors will keep coming. And if he had a cleaner health record, the idea would carry more weight.
But with his injury issues and his offensive impact still not matching Embiid’s, Philadelphia is better off sticking with the Embiid-Maxey core and blending in Brown and James.
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The larger issue, of course, is the one that has shadowed this core for years: getting past the second round. Any scenario involving James in Philadelphia naturally raises the stakes around Embiid, because the fit would immediately reshape the teams ceiling and its path through the East. For now, the discussion lives in possibility, but it is the kind of possibility that keeps the 76ers at the center of league speculation. [Read more 🡒]
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LeBron's Sixers Decision May Have Taken A Turn Fans Never Saw
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James himself has at least acknowledged what Philadelphia has had to offer in the present, praising the Sixers strong core and the kind of roster that can make a deep playoff run. For a fan base that has lived through endless speculation around stars, that kind of remark only adds another layer to the old question of how close the Sixers came to landing one of the games biggest names, and what might have followed if the decision tree had broken differently. [Read more 🡒]