March 24, 2025
Stephen Lew/Imagn Images
Sixers rookie Justin Edwards' progression as a scorer continued with a career-best three-point shooting night on Monday.
The Sixers had nine players available on Monday night in the final leg of their grueling six-game road trip. Their opponent, the lowly New Orleans Pelicans, only had 11 healthy bodies. The only players on the floor all night with significant experience were Pelicans, veteran big Kelly Olynyk and point guard Jose Alvarado. For the Sixers, every player who has established themselves as a rotation player over multiple years was sidelined.
While Guerschon Yabusele and Justin Edwards are quality NBA players -- and Edwards continued to show flashes of noteworthy scoring development in this game, setting a new career-high in three-pointers made -- the Sixers knew what they were doing when they entered this game so incredibly undermanned when going up against one of the only four teams in the NBA lower than them in the standings. Even with their own entire core sidelined, the Pelicans handled the Sixers with ease, as Edwards and co. fell, 112-99, finally putting an end to their road trip.
Here is what stood out from Monday's action:
Earlier in the Sixers' six-game road trip, they faced the Oklahoma City Thunder and both teams were without a comical number of key contributors. Just for the fun of it, I created a roster solely made up of players who had been ruled out for that game, likely called the Philadelphia Thunder or Oklahoma City 76ers. As the Sixers concluded the road swing in New Orleans under similar circumstances, why not run it back?
Ladies and gentleman, now taking the court, you... Philadelphia Pelicans. Or your New Orleans 76ers. I do not know. It has been a long season.
Starters: Tyrese Maxey, Trey Murphy III, Paul George, Zion Williamson, Joel Embiid
Bench: Dejounte Murray, Jared McCain, CJ McCollum, Quentin Grimes, Herb Jones, Kelly Oubre Jr., Bruce Brown, Andre Drummond
This team is not quite as balanced as last week's version, particularly because Andre Drummond is its only true backup center. Maybe the 284-pound Williamson can handle the backup center role behind Embiid in addition to taking on the lead scoring duties. The amount of perimeter skill on this roster, both at guard and on the wing, is remarkable. Maxey, Murphy, George, Murray, McCain, McCollum and Grimes are all gifted offensively with the ability to score on the ball or off the ball. Jones is a defensive ace on the wing, while Oubre and Brown can fill in the gaps wherever necessary. Maybe the newly-minted front office in New Philadelphia (?) can flip a few of these perimeter players for another big.
In all seriousness, the only (mildly) surprising absence in this one was that of Grimes, who the Sixers elected to rest on the second leg of a back-to-back and the final game of a long, taxing road trip in which Grimes has played a lot of minutes and taken a lot of shots. Expect Grimes to get at least a few more nights off as the season winds down, with one game seeming like a prime spot: Sunday's incredibly important tank battle between the Sixers and Raptors, which happens to be the second leg of a back-to-back for the Sixers.
Every single win has long-term ramifications for the Sixers, whose top-six protected first-round pick is always at the center of everybody's minds. As cynical as it sounds, they really do need to maximize their potential for losing between now and April 13 more than any other team in the NBA. Even if teams have more substantial increases in overall lottery positioning they can attain before the season ends compared the Sixers, none have the potential downside of losing their pick altogether. Whether it is the Toronto Raptors, Brooklyn Nets or anyone else, having a lower pick than expected would hurt, but they at least know they will be able to add talented young players to their rosters. The Sixers do not know if that will be the case.
Grimes is the only available Sixer who has proven to be consistently capable of swinging games in his team's favor, and so sitting him removes one major risk factor for the Sixers' tanking efforts. And from a slightly less cynical perspective, Grimes' brilliant play since arriving in Philadelphia has primed him for a payday in restricted free agency this summer; jeopardizing that with a possible injury does not feel worth the trouble.
Some more notes and takeaways from this one:
• The Sixers' constant shuffling of two-way players continued on Monday, as Jeff Dowtin Jr. and Jalen Hood-Schifino were both active and available off the bench while Alex Reese was inactive. The Sixers will keep making these adjustments in an attempt to preserve each player's final available NBA days.
• Earlier in the day, the Sixers' shuffle of 10-day contracts took another turn as Oshae Brissett's deal expired and he was replaced by Delaware Blue Coats forward Marcus Bagley. Bagley made his NBA debut a few hours after his signing became official and found his way into the rotation, scoring his first NBA basket on a floater:
Marcus Bagley's first NBA bucket. 🪣⬇️ pic.twitter.com/41uolc78Xv
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) March 25, 2025
Bagley, 23, will be available for four more games on his 10-day deal.
• It was good to see rookie center Adem Bona back on the floor after missing the first five games of the road trip due to an ankle sprain. With 10 games left in his first NBA campaign after Monday's game, Bona should receive as many minutes as possible to give him every bit of seasoning possible. The No. 41 overall pick in last year's NBA Draft will head into an offseason in which he can hope to prepare to be a contributor the team relies on a game-by-game basis.
Up next: The Sixers will finally return home. Awaiting them on Wednesday night: the Washington Wizards.
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