Tim BontempsNov 28, 2025, 07:00 AM ETCloseTim Bontemps is a senior NBA writer for ESPN.com who covers the league and what’s impacting it on and off the court, including trade deadline intel, expansion and his MVP Straw Polls. You can find Tim alongside Brian Windhorst and Tim MacMahon on The Hoop Collective podcast.Follow on X
play1:16Tyrese Maxey drops career-high 54 points vs. the BucksTyrese Maxey notches his fourth career 50-point game for the Sixers.
play0:18Paul George scores on first attempt in returnPaul George grabs the rock and immediately scores on his first possession of the game.
play1:54VJ Edgecombe shines for the Sixers in debutVJ Edgecombe finishes with 34 points on 13-of-26 shooting on his way to scoring the third-most points in an NBA debut.
Stephen A. has high praise for Tyrese Maxey: He’s a star! (0:52)Stephen A. calls Tyrese Maxey a “spectacular talent” after his 54-point showing, says adding a healthy Joel Embiid will make the Sixers must-see. (0:52)
Tyrese Maxey drops career-high 54 points vs. the BucksTyrese Maxey notches his fourth career 50-point game for the Sixers.
Paul George scores on first attempt in returnPaul George grabs the rock and immediately scores on his first possession of the game.
VJ Edgecombe shines for the Sixers in debutVJ Edgecombe finishes with 34 points on 13-of-26 shooting on his way to scoring the third-most points in an NBA debut.
VJ Edgecombe finishes with 34 points on 13-of-26 shooting on his way to scoring the third-most points in an NBA debut.
Last season opened with dreams of ending a more-than-four-decade championship drought, hopes sparked by the summer acquisition of free agent wing Paul George to pair with 2022-23 MVP Joel Embiid and rising superstar guard Tyrese Maxey.
But Embiid was limited to 19 games due to lingering left knee issues, Paul George managed just 41 with the fewest points per game since his second year in the league and Philadelphia endured a desultory 24-58 season that was largely spent banking on lottery luck.
“These guys give them the ability to move on from the Embiid and George era,” a Western Conference executive told ESPN.
Tyrese Maxey drops career-high 54 points vs. the Bucks
Tyrese Maxey notches his fourth career 50-point game for the Sixers.
“It just looks like there is more energy,” an East executive said. “They may not be good enough, but it’s not just waiting around for Paul and Joel [to get healthy] like it’s been in the past.”
Philadelphia has traditionally looked lost without Embiid. In seven of his first eight full seasons, the 76ers were more than 10 points per 100 possessions worse with Embiid on the bench.
But to begin this season, coach Nick Nurse has established a clear identity, one that has gone from Philadelphia’s universe revolving around Embiid to instead being centered on Maxey. That shift has led to 32.2 points per game from their point guard, behind only Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Doncic. Maxey’s breakneck speed and shifty scoring tactics have made the 76ers incredibly fun to watch and have allowed them to remain competitive without Embiid in ways they were never able to in the past.
“He’s a legitimate first- or second-team All-NBA player now,” an East scout said of Maxey’s elite first month. “Even with Embiid’s injury issues, they could still be in the conversation for a top-six spot in the East, because Maxey is really that good.”
For all the excitement around Philly’s young guards, Embiid will play a key role in how high the 76ers can climb in the East.
With Embiid sidelined, the 76ers — already one of the smaller rosters in the league — have only Andre Drummond as a true big man, and they’ve struggled to wall off the paint defensively over the past couple of weeks with Embiid sidelined by his current bout with right knee soreness.
“They’re not good enough defensively [without him],” a second East scout said. That’s why I have a hard time believing in them.”
While Embiid’s mobility issues have been apparent even when he has played this season, he remains arguably the best shooting big in the league and a focus of opposing defenses. Following an abysmal season debut in Boston — he went 1-for-9 with four points in a win in Boston — Embiid went on to have five consecutive games with at least 20 points, shooting 50% from the field and 37.5% from 3.
“They have to figure out how to maximize Joel,” a second East executive said. “I don’t think he can come back and look like he used to. They have to try to use him in a strategic way, where he can have some value to them, but you can’t build the offense around him.”
Teams clearly still respect Embiid as a scorer. And his gravity and ability to operate in dribble handoff actions with guards Maxey, Edgecombe, Quentin Grimes and Jared McCain will make life easier across the board for Philly’s offense.
The question is whether Embiid’s mobility will improve enough for him to be an effective defender. In the early going, whenever Embiid has ventured outside the paint, he has become a target to attack off the dribble. “He basically runs from one free throw line to the other,” an East assistant coach said.
Sources I spoke to expressed confidence that Embiid would continue to build trust in his troublesome left knee. But Embiid has now missed more than two weeks with soreness in his right knee. That underscores the fragile state of his body; there’s a reason Nurse and the 76ers have created a style of play that doesn’t depend on Embiid’s availability. It’s simply not clear how regularly he will be on the court.
“You look at where the league is heading, with the pace and the speed the game is being played,” the second East scout said. ‘He was having trouble keeping up with it when he was healthy, let alone now.”
It’s a similar situation for George, who returned last week and has played just three games as he recovers from offseason knee surgery.
Each has shown flashes in increased minutes as part of a noticeable infusion of youth and athleticism across the roster, but George’s scoring and floor-spacing will provide the bigger boost to Maxey and the 76ers offense.
“Building around [Maxey and Edgecombe], and having them take that step forward, that will help Paul, too,” the second East executive said, “because he will buy into helping Maxey succeed.”
Paul George grabs the rock and immediately scores on his first possession of the game.
Hampered by stretches of poor shooting luck, George shot 43% overall and 35% from 3-point range but should again benefit from plenty of clean looks with the amount of offensive firepower around him on this roster. A bounce-back season for the nine-time All-Star would do wonders for a 76ers team that, through 17 games, has been overly reliant on Maxey (40.4 minutes per game) and Edgecombe (37.3).
“He can be a floor-spacing [power forward],” the first East scout said of George’s role in his 16th season. “Better to not have him handling the ball as much anymore. You can run some pick-and-rolls with him as the screener to take advantage of his shooting and ability to attack mismatches.
Two separate strokes of luck involving the defending champs helped create this 76ers backcourt tandem. Maxey landed in Philly thanks to Mike Muscala’s game-winning 3 in the NBA bubble in 2020, which ensured Philadelphia would retain its draft pick. Five years later, the 76ers lost enough throughout the 2024-25 season to stop the Thunder from taking the pick.
That latter has translated into an ideal partner for Maxey, as Edgecombe has showcased explosive playmaking skills on offense with several jaw-dropping defensive highlights throughout his first month in the NBA.
“I didn’t think VJ would be as good as he’s been,” the first East scout said. “Yes, there’s imperfections, but if they keep pushing him — because he can do lots of different things — he will be a special player.”
Edgecombe’s start has led to some high-level comparisons from scouts. Two names brought up repeatedly were Cleveland Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell and former All-Star Victor Oladipo, particularly when he was at his peak with the Indiana Pacers.
Another scout compared Edgecombe’s fit alongside Maxey to the one the Golden State Warriors enjoyed with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. And while they cautioned not to expect the same path as the one blazed by the two future Hall of Famers with four championships together, the idea of an explosive lead scorer next to an elite two-way sidekick is a fun place for the 76ers to start.
“Those guys are pretty good together,” a West scout said. “They work well together because they can both do a bit of everything.”
Given last season’s disaster — even as late as January, team sources were insisting they didn’t see a realistic path for Philadelphia to keep that top-six protected pick — getting a player with that kind of ceiling is an immense change of fortune.
Predictably, Edgecombe has tailed off. He is shooting 35% overall and 32% from 3-point range in November after his blistering first five games, a nod to teams scheming for him and the acclimation process to the rigors of an 82-game season. (He’s also the latest notable player around the league to deal with a calf strain.)
So Philadelphia sitting at 9-8 — even after Tuesday’s bludgeoning by the Orlando Magic — with an offense just outside the top 10 and a positive net rating despite Embiid and George combining for nine games, should be considered a successful start. “I’m impressed by what Nick [Nurse] has done,” an East assistant coach said. “He’s getting these guys to play hard.”
What’s obvious is that Philadelphia will not be moving away from its guard-centric offense. Edgecombe has immediately become a fan favorite, and he and Maxey have imbued the franchise with a needed dose of excitement after what the group trudged through last season.
And there’s every reason to think a 76ers team with a healthy Maxey, Embiid and George, plus the guard depth, belongs at the top of the play-in picture, if not a top-six playoff seed.
That ceiling, though, is not where this group expected it to be a year ago when it extended Embiid and signed George.