Sixers getting swept leaves Joel Embiid, Nick Nurse and everyone else under the microscope

PHILADELPHIA — Daryl Morey’s vision for the 76ers played out in two sharply contrasting scenes during the 2026 NBA playoffs.

There was a first-round win over the Boston Celtics. A core the president of basketball operations meticulously put together finally found health and cohesion over seven games. Joel Embiid was dominant. Tyrese Maxey was electric. Paul George was versatile and dependable. And Embiid celebrated what may have been the crowning accomplishment of his playoff career — defeating his longtime rival in a competitive seven-game series for the first time.

Inside Philadelphia’s locker room after the Game 7 win, Morey greeted almost every player with an handshake, smiles and words of encouragement.

Then came the second-round sweep at the hands of the New York Knicks, punctuated by Sunday’s 30-point loss.

Forced to play every other day, Embiid’s body broke down. Maxey wasn’t as effective. George wasn’t as spry. When the end came with Game 4’s 144-114 loss at Xfinity Mobile Arena, it brought a familiar realization: This franchise still has a lot of work to do.

In one sense, this season can be viewed as a successful rebound year in Philadelphia. The 76ers won 45 regular-season games and secured the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference, restoring some credibility after last season’s 24-58 collapse. When adversity hit, they didn’t roll over like in the past. Proof of that came against Boston, when Philadelphia improbably won three consecutive games to steal the series.

This 76ers team fought to the end. For that, alone, it deserves real credit.

But extending the season didn’t erase the underlying problems.

Internally, the volatility of this year cannot be ignored heading into the offseason. From a tumultuous trade deadline to late-season frustrations between players and coaches that nearly derailed a shootaround, tension simmered throughout the year. On many nights, the team barely knew who would be available.

Embiid played only 38 games in another injury-riddled season. George missed 25 games because of a suspension for a banned substance. The 76ers rarely had their top players healthy together. Considering the chaos, 45 wins was no small achievement.

But there were also clear, bright spots: Maxey enjoyed an All-NBA level season, while VJ Edgecombe was electric as a rookie and showed star-level upside. And Embiid, in that Boston series, turned in a performance still worthy of superstar status. He proved that, when healthy, he is still one of the most dominant offensive players of this era.

That said, the embarrassment by the Knicks exposed something more harsh than a second-round exit: The 76ers, as currently constructed, are not title contenders.

Even with the talent on paper of Embiid, George, Maxey and Edgecombe, the roster lacks the depth and versatility needed to make a run at an NBA championship. The top-end talent is there. Almost everything else, however, isn’t. And because of that, something has to change.

“So, we just gotta get better from top to bottom,” Embiid said after Sunday’s loss. “Ownership, players, coaches, everybody just has to get better.”

Making the equation more difficult is the race against time when it comes to Embiid’s health. His skill level is so vast, but that skill resides in a body seemingly breaking down by the day. It makes the urgency to build a title-level team around him more prevalent.

That leaves the franchise facing uncomfortable questions and potentially major decisions. The jobs of Morey and head coach Nick Nurse are expected to be evaluated entering the offseason, multiple league sources told The Athletic. As of Sunday’s elimination, team sources said ownership has not made final decisions on either and is likely to take a few days to assess before making any major calls.

But the uncomfortable conversations will be had. And as usual, the biggest question centers on Embiid.

As the season progressed, it became clear the star center didn’t see eye-to-eye with the front office and the coaching staff. In the days before the February trade deadline, he implored the front office to do something other than what he termed “ducking the (luxury) tax.”

As such, he — along with others in the locker room — were not happy with the decision to trade second-year guard Jared McCain to the Oklahoma City Thunder, particularly without bringing in a player to replace McCain. In interviews over the next few games, Embiid noticeably had to hold himself back from verbally criticizing the front office.

In Washington on April 1, Embiid, wanting to play against the Wizards but fighting an illness, was ruled out of that game. Incensed by the decision, he posted on X, “I guess they won’t let me play basketball!!” Days later, when asked about the situation by reporters, Embiid would call Morey out by name, heightening tensions.

“I wanted to play basketball. I wasn’t allowed to play basketball,” Embiid said on April 3. “I think this is more of a question for Daryl Morey and whoever makes the decisions.”

When he was on the court, Embiid proved he’s still the team’s best offensive player. Even through 38 games, he showed that he’s roughly the same level of scorer he was before his major knee injury two years ago. But if Philadelphia is to make a leap into what has become a competitive and dynamic Eastern Conference, he and the front office have to be on the same page. He and the coaching staff have to be on the same page.

Because of the injuries and his contract, it’s unlikely Philadelphia can trade him for anything of value. But because he’s still an elite-level offensive player (his defense definitely took a dip this season), he’s still worth more to Philadelphia than anything that would come back in a trade.

One issue, which was revealed in the Boston series, is that the 76ers play differently with Embiid in the fold. In Game 1, Philadelphia looked like a team in desperate need of having Embiid on the floor. In Game 4, the Sixers looked like a team playing with Embiid for the first time in weeks. In Games 5, 6 and 7, with the same lineup, they looked like they had been playing together for years.

That’s the conundrum: The Sixers can’t be both versions and be successful — and yet they need Embiid to be healthy consistently for the sake of chemistry. So, this offseason should be less about tweaks and more about hard truths.

“We have to look at each other, and that starts with me,” Embiid said Sunday. “I wasn’t around for much of the season for a lot of things. So, moving forward, I have an understanding of what it takes to make sure that I get to play. I think we will be better next year. But, for now, I’m disappointed we didn’t get a chance for a championship. So, everyone has to look at themselves, starting with me.”

Does this roster truly fit together? How much can the franchise truly count on Embiid as the center of its contention hopes? And, are Morey and Nurse — a former Executive of the Year and Coach of the Year, respectively — the right people to push this franchise toward what’s next?

Nick Nurse deserves credit for taking this Sixers team to 45 wins despite injuries. (Arwen Clemans / Getty Images)

One could make the case that Morey’s done a good job this season, his sixth in Philadelphia, especially considering the constraints of the roster.

He took heavy criticism for the McCain trade. But objectively, the Sixers concluded he probably would never be a starter in Philadelphia because of Edgecombe’s emergence. Garnering a first-round pick for a projected reserve constitutes a fair deal. The fairer critique is that the 76ers didn’t use the deadline to bring in someone who could immediately help, although Morey explored multiple paths to do so, kicking the tires on a handful of wing options and a big man.

That being said, Morey gave Embiid a $192.9 million maximum extension in September 2024 that will pay him through the 2028-29 season. That deal, along with the George contract, likely means the current core is the core for the near future. But Morey has become a very good drafter and evaluator of talent on the margins of the roster. He drafted Edgecombe. He drafted Maxey. He signed Dominick Barlow on a two-way deal, and Barlow became one of the most important players on the roster.

Additionally, the bulk of Philadelphia’s assets going forward are draft picks, including the No. 22 pick in June’s draft. If the 76ers are going to meaningfully improve the roster, talent evaluation will matter as much as cap maneuvering.

The case for Nurse is similarly mixed. Tensions between certain players and his staff were present throughout the season.

On April 1, the same day as Embiid’s social media post, a handful of players met with members of Philadelphia’s coaching staff before shootaround in Washington to express concern over certain players’ participation in team activities and frustration over the direction of the 76ers’ season, multiple league sources told The Athletic. Among other things, the players expressed they felt there wasn’t enough control of the locker room, according to those sources. The meeting was tense enough to briefly imperil the team’s shootaround; however, the conversation resolved enough that the activity was able to proceed as planned, those sources said.

For this season, Nurse deserves credit for taking this Sixers team to 45 wins, despite all the injuries. When looking back, it can be said the 76ers played a hard and resilient brand of basketball most nights. The Sixers were a decent road team, 22-19 through 41 regular-season games, and Nurse kept 76ers competitive throughout the postseason, which included the series win over Boston. When he all but called out his players after the Game 4 beating at the hands of the Celtics, those players responded. He tactically shortened his bench as the series progressed, and that move also yielded positive results.

At the end of the day, his roster clearly never stopped playing hard for him, and he was able to produce a good team despite significant constraints. And those are signs of good coaching.

But there were warts. Philadelphia was one of the worst third-quarter teams, a recurring sign of poor halftime adjustments, although the Sixers did progress in that area by the end of the season. And it was curious that the 76ers played Game 4 of the Boston series with little passion and energy. Considering how much this team had to scratch and claw to get to the point of being down 2-1, the lack of attention to detail and the lack of emotion — on its home floor, with a chance to tie the series — was jarring. Rebounding to win the series encapsulates the mercurial nature of the 2026 Sixers. They had stretches of brilliance and stretches where they were very vulnerable.

Nurse spoke before Game 5 against the Celtics about adjustments being meaningless, considering the lack of energy his team brought to Game 4. Nurse won a championship with the Toronto Raptors and coached his players hard, much like Michael Malone did when he was with the Denver Nuggets. Sometimes there is an expiration date with that kind of coach. Will Sixers ownership decide he is still the right voice for this group?

Once those decisions are made, the harder work begins: improving the roster. By the end of the New York series, flaws were apparent.

The Sixers badly lack shooting. The roster craves rebounding and positional size at the power forward spot. Time and again this season, the Sixers surrendered offensive rebounds to teams that led to back-breaking moments and losses. Philadelphia looked fatigued and thin against the Knicks, while New York looked more energized by the possession.

When discussing strengths, Maxey and Edgecombe could become one of the best backcourts in the league. Maxey carried the offense for long stretches this season and grew into a true franchise cornerstone. He improved defensively. He improved immensely at managing the offense and his teammates.

For how the roster improves, Edgecombe might be the best answer. He turned in a first-team All-Rookie season. He thrived on both ends of the floor, and his upside is immense.

And even though George makes superstar money when he is no longer a superstar — he has two years and $110.7 million remaining with a player option in the final season — he still displayed usefulness. When he played, he showed real value as a secondary scorer and primary defender. Even at the advanced age of 36, he’s still able to guard some of the best forwards in the league.

The Eastern Conference potentially could be even more competitive next year, which makes this a big summer for the 76ers. Embiid, at 32, is moving deeper into the latter stage of his career. He hasn’t won an NBA title. He has never reached the finals or even advanced past the second round.

The Sixers still have a talented core in Maxey, George, Edgecombe and Embiid. But New York delivered a reminder: Talent is simply not enough. So now, the tough conversations in Philadelphia must begin.