October 24, 2026
Bill Streicher/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
LeBron James' absence on Saturday gave Jaylen Brown a chance to assert himself offensively.
PHILADELPHIA – The Sixers may not have had LeBron James available on Saturday night, but they had a chance to show that the NBA's all-time leading scorer is not absolutely essential.
Because, even without James in uniform, the Sixers had three All-Stars and a potential soon-to-be star in their starting lineup. Touches that would have normally gone to James were healthily redistributed among James' new teammates, and despite a few erratic stretches, the Sixers came away with a win over the Milwaukee Bucks. They nearly coughed up a late lead, but put together another strong finishing act to secure a 127-116 victory.
While the Sixers were not quite as sharp defensively against a young and athletic Bucks team as they had been in their first two wins of the season, their three-point shooting finally reversed course. After back-to-back games below 30 percent from beyond the arc as a team – despite generating quality looks consistently – the Sixers shot the lights out, paying off their steady advantage creation.
Takeaways from a win on the front end of a weekend back-to-back, putting the Sixers at 3-0:
If anything was made clear during the first two Sixers games of the season, it was this: Tyrese Maxey, no matter how many other stars are available, will be heavily featured in the offense. The same is true for Joel Embiid; he is too significant of a gravitational force to not feed. That remained the case on Saturday, even though Maxey did not have the same groove against the Bucks that he had against the New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers.
Embiid, from the outset, was much better offensively, to some degree as a scorer but especially as a playmaker. Just in the nick of time, he notched a triple-double – the 10th of his career – with a clutch Jaylen Brown triple helping Embiid get to a line of 28 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. It was a play sparked by a tremendous offensive rebound from VJ Edgecombe:
V. J. Edgecombe keeps the play alive and Jaylen Brown
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) October 25, 2026
knocks down the triple!🔥#NBA pic.twitter.com/wqRzG7gQLf
With James on the bench in street clothes, many more touches opened up for Brown and Edgecombe. Edgecombe set a great tone, knocking down three early triples and igniting the crowd. Foul trouble limited his overall usage, but when the 21-year-old was on the floor he had the ball a whole lot more often than he did in either of the Sixers' first two games.
Brown, meanwhile, scaled up in a major way on his 30th birthday. It was not the Brown of a season ago – one of the highest-volume seasons in recent league history – but he was in bucket-getter mode. As the game went on, Brown became more and more successful attacking in the middle of the floor. His physicality is an enormous asset on both ends of the floor; offensively, he used his strength to create space and rise up for jumpers or bully his way to the rim.
Brown's self-created two-point scoring is a gift that raises the floor of any team – and it is largely context-independent. Brown's one-on-one scoring work is buoyed by proper floor spacing, but he does not necessarily need to be set up with a strong pass or offensive set. It is very much a luxury when the Sixers are healthy, but when even one of their stars is unavailable, it will be critical.
With James sidelined, Sixers head coach Nick Nurse was not ready to name a starting lineup during his pregame media availability because he did not yet know if Dean Wade, the Sixers' original free agency addition of note, would be available for his team debut. And after missing the first two games of the season, Wade was available on Saturday. As a low-usage, low-maintenance, two-way forward, Wade slotted into the starting unit cleanly.
Wade's Sixers tenure could not possibly have started better; on his very first touch during the team's very first possession, he knocked down a catch-and-shoot corner triple off a drive-and-kick from Maxey:
first bucket goes to DEAN WADE! pic.twitter.com/GoQYawG2FY
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) October 24, 2026
Wade traded off defensive assignments with Maxey early; they took turns on emerging point guard Ryan Rollins – 6-foot-3, 180 pounds – and veteran wing Kyle Kuzma – 6-foot-8, 221 pounds.
It speaks to the defensive versatility that Wade is going to bring; he can guard a broader range of the positional spectrum than any other player on this team. He has plenty of experience defending elite guards and wings of all sizes in high-leverage situations. He said at Media Day last month that he feels most comfortable defending wings, and for these Sixers that is where he will be the most helpful. He picked up two early steals, helping the Sixers pick up where they left off in Thursday's second half defensively.
Wade played in short stints – predictable given his ankle sprain – and did not have a remarkable box-score line. But he made winning plays on defense without interrupting any offensive flow, adding another corner three during an early fourth-quarter run. That will be his role.
Some additional notes:
• Labaron Philon Jr. made his NBA debut late in the first quarter on Saturday; Nurse opted to give the rookie guard minutes over third-year wing Justin Edwards. Philon stood out quite a bit during training camp and preseason, but the Sixers' volume of ball-handlers has left him on the outside looking in at a short rotation to start the year.
• Adem Bona began the game as Embiid's backup and had a particularly brutal stint, continuing a rough start to his third NBA season. Bona was the victim of a vicious poster dunk by Kuzma, but Maxey regained momentum for the Sixers with this buzzer-beating banker:
TYRESE MAXEY.
— NBA (@NBA) October 25, 2026
FROM THE LOGO.
AT THE 1Q BUZZER 🎯 pic.twitter.com/JUoPwQxG1y
The opening games of the season have remained troubling for Bona, and it is hard not to see Jabari Walker getting a crack at backup center minutes soon after he shined there in the preseason. The Sixers had a terrible start to Saturday's second quarter; Walker played the four in a lineup that put them back ahead with a spirited two-way push. That unit, also featuring Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in a standout game, had a terrific sequence late in the first half:
Tyrese Maxey makes the transition layup, and after a steal Jabari Walker gets the And-1! 😤The @sixers lead by 4 at the half on NBA TV. pic.twitter.com/YnYabd8FNN
— NBA TV (@NBATV) October 25, 2026
Walker and Wade tag-teamed the backup center spot to start the second half, but when Walker needed to limp to the locker room, Bona was summoned again.
• The Sixers not listing Embiid on their injury report for this game was a surprise – and it indicated that the former NBA MVP would sit on Sunday after Embiid said on Thursday he would only play in one of two games this weekend. Interestingly, Nurse declined multiple opportunities to officially rule Embiid out for Sunday's game during his pregame media availability on Saturday.
Up next: The Sixers will be right back to work on Sunday, hosting a Jalen Duren-less Detroit Pistons team.
MORE: Jaylen Brown takes shots at Jayson Tatum after win over Bucks
