The Philadelphia 76ers are a team that many people keep a close eye on as we head toward the 2023-24 NBA season. They are the franchise most likely to make a blockbuster trade as the James Harden situation remains unresolved despite the regular season starting next week.
The uncertainty surrounding that situation is why many NBA writers believe that the 76ers will be taking a step back this season. Over at NBA.com, five writers, Steve Aschburner, Brian Martin, Shaun Powell, John Schuhmann, and Michael C. Wright, made predictions about how the Eastern Conference standings would shake out.
Wright is the only one amongst the five of them who believes that Philadelphia will stay inside the top three of the conference this season, not dropping in the standings. Martin believes that the 76ers will still have homecourt advantage in the first round, earning the No. 4 seed. The other three writers are all predicting the 76ers to finish in fifth place.
A fifth-place finish would be the second-lowest finish for the 76ers since their run of six consecutive playoff appearances began. The only time they finished lower was in the 2019-20 COVID-19 shortened season when they finished in sixth. Philadelphia also finished fourth because of tiebreakers during the 2020-21 season but was tied for second in the conference with 51 victories.
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While the depth of quality teams in the Eastern Conference has improved in recent seasons, it is still not as much of a dogfight as the Western Conference will be. That is partly what will keep the 76ers afloat in the opinion of the writers, as Philadelphia still has reigning MVP Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Tobias Harris to rely on outside of Harden.
Finding closure to that situation would undoubtedly help figure things out about Philadelphia. Projecting how they will perform this season is difficult because the roster they start the season with almost assuredly won’t be what they finish it with.
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Moving on from Harden is best for both parties, as we have seen the drag he can have on a franchise he doesn’t want to be a part of. Will the 76ers be able to recoup talent to help put them over the top in the Eastern Conference? Or is this the beginning of the end of the Embiid era in the City of Brotherly Love?
