Heading into the 2025-26 season, no team will be more difficult to predict than the Philadelphia 76ers. After the absolute stinker they put out in the previous campaign, fans and pundits alike have soured when it comes to the collective ceiling of their core group, raising serious doubts about this squad's ability to return to contention which was the expectation just a year ago.
Part and parcel of the more modulated expectations for the 76ers moving forward is the discouraging signs of decline that Joel Embiid displayed last season. He appeared in just 19 total games during the 2024-25 campaign, turning in relatively meager numbers as his production across the board took a significant dip.