Is it finally the Philadelphia 76ers' turn to go on a deep playoff run? Time is running out on the Sixers' Joel Embiid era, though they maximized their remaining chances with a busy 2024 offseason. Paul George made for a massive addition, the supporting cast got a makeover and the team has some draft picks and young players to use in trades. There’s much more hope for Philly going into the 2024-25 season — and even more urgency.
The Sixers' 2024-25 regular season schedule: pic.twitter.com/RyLADeSlkA
— Sam DiGiovanni (@BySamDiGiovanni) August 15, 2024
The Sixers' 2024-25 regular season schedule:
The 76ers posted a 31-8 record with Embiid last season, giving them a winning percentage in such games of 79.5, greater than that of the Boston Celtics (78.0), the reigning champions and one of the very best teams in recent memory. But their overall record was just 47-35. They won’t be as hopeless without Embiid as last season but expecting them to win at the pace they did with Embiid last year is a little too hopeful.
According to the stats website Positive Residual, the 76ers have the 10th-easiest record in the NBA. They should be better suited for Embiid's absences and have a dynamic supporting cast that elevates Embiid (and vice versa). Philly is going to stack up plenty of wins this season. The only question is how many.
76ers face a few early tests before schedule heats up midseason
The most important games on the 76ers' schedule are a handful of matchups against their biggest Eastern Conference competitors.
For the first third or so of the season, the Sixers will face plenty of good teams but mostly in big games that are isolated. They start their season by hosting the Milwaukee Bucks. They'll see the Indiana Pacers a few games later and then play the New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers at home in consecutive November matchups. Games against their biggest competition will be sandwiched in between games against bad or mid teams.
Then, the heat will get really turned up starting on Christmas against the Celtics, arguably the very biggest game of the 76ers' 2024-25 regular season.
The Sixers' first against the defending champions, who they will almost certainly have to see in the playoffs, kicks off a six-game road trip. The competition on that trip isn’t anything crazy — Philly will see three of the five-or-so worst teams in the league (Utah, Portland and Brooklyn) and two decent playoff contenders (Golden State and Sacramento) after facing Boston — but a road trip of that long could be a real drag by the end.
Later in January, the Sixers have a seven-game stretch against 2024 playoff teams: the Orlando Magic, Oklahoma City Thunder, Knicks, Pacers, Bucks, Denver Nuggets and Cavaliers. The first, fourth, fifth, and sixth games of that run will be on the road. That may be the most challenging stretch of the season, a span of roughly two weeks without any games they can win by just showing up.
The 76ers will square off with the Nuggets again at the end of January and then host the Celtics, Dallas Mavericks and Miami Heat. All four of those games will be at home but each of them could be a test, especially facing the stingy Heat on the second night of a back-to-back.
Long road stretches in March followed by homestretch in April
The Sixers will spend 10 of their 17 games in March in other teams' arenas, their longest stretch of games away from home all season. Included in those games is a six-game road trip around Texas and other parts of the south. They’ll have some tough road games in March, against powerhouses like the Celtics, Thunder, Mavericks and Minnesota Timberwolves.
The road-heavy slate of games in March feeds into two April weeks that mostly feature home games for the Sixers. After facing the New Orleans Pelicans in the Big Easy on March 26, Philly will only play three road games the rest of the way. Only one such game, against the Heat, will actually require them to get on a flight. The other two games are in New York City and Washington, D.C., making for more leisurely travel.
Although the Sixers will have to face the Knicks, Bucks, and Timberwolves in April, being lost exclusively at home for the final three weeks of the regular season is a huge benefit. Not having to worry about lengthy travel until the playoffs again will be a luxury that should really come in handy if there are some end-of-season injuries to patch up.
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The strengths (or weaknesses) of NBA schedules only go so far, though. This isn’t the NFL, which doles out unique schedules that can be boosted by a certain division being stacked or depleted of talent. The 76ers have plenty of favorable and not-so-favorable stretches of their season just like everyone else. Whether they can navigate their journey comes down to health and how big of an upgrade George proves to be.
76ers record prediction for 2024-25 season: 55-27
55 wins would be the most that Philly has won since the 2000-01 season. Only four teams won that many games last season. But this year’s Sixers have what it takes to get there so long as Embiid doesn’t miss an inordinate amount of games.
Predicting the 76ers' record is tough given the injuries Embiid and George might face. As the team saw last season, removing Embiid from the equation makes it harder for everyone. Whenever they meet the unfortunate fate of having an Embiid-sized hole in their sail, they can patch it up better with another All-Star in the fold and a more experienced emergency starter in Andre Drummond. Tyrese Maxey may also feel some more responsibility to be more capable of consistently thriving without Embiid.
The Sixers should be one of the very best teams in the Eastern Conference — and that upper class may further remove itself from the underlings of the East. The separation between the decent teams and the bad teams of the conference could grow even bigger with teams like the Toronto Raptors and Chicago Bulls stepping firmly into rebuilds, the Brooklyn Nets fueling up their tank and the Atlanta Hawks keeping the keys to their tank close. The Celtics and Knicks highlight the other conference heavyweights, a class that Philly should almost definitely be a part of.
Embiid played the best basketball of his life in the 2022-23 season when he played 66 games and the 76ers won 54 games overall, and then he got even better under Nick Nurse. With the experience of playing in the Olympics under his belt and an All-Star friend of his joining the team, Embiid is in line to have another monster season. More improvement from Maxey and the bolstered roster around them will give Philly the chance to
