Last Season: 49-23, 1st in Eastern Conference
In a sense, we may as well leave this slide blank until we know what happens with Ben Simmons. The standoff between the organization and their star player shows no signs of letting up, with each side continuing to dig in further with public shade and withheld money.
If Simmons sits out but the 76ers don’t get a trade package in return, it’s very difficult to see Philly competing in the Eastern Conference. In fact, they likely wouldn’t even secure home-court advantage as the conference improves around them. Joel Embiid is still a monster inside, and they have some good role players around him, but they need Simmons or his equivalent to think of themselves as anything but a first-round exit.
Key Offseason Move: Adding Andre Drummond on a minimum contract. The Sixers did make a couple of moves on their bench this offseason, adding Georges Niang and signing center Andre Drummond to a minimum contract to back up Joel Embiid. Drummond is overqualified for that role, but he will get to start a number of games in Embiid’s absence to boost his playing time. As long as the 76ers don’t try to play both Drummond and Embiid together things should be fine.