12-Year NBA Veteran Sounds Off on Sixers’ Struggles

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A little over one year after getting traded by the Philadelphia 76ers, Patrick Beverley sees his former team heading down a dark path in the NBA.
As he recently reflected on his shockingly early departure from the team, he doesn’t seem all that surprised. Beverley feels like the Sixers’ front office has been trying to “outsmart” the game while not having enough focus on building locker room chemistry.
“When I was there, we went through a stretch where we were 21-9. The best 30-game stretch since Allen Iverson. Locker room reflects play. Play reflects winning. Winning reflects culture. I think it all starts in the locker room,” Beverley said on ‘The Pat Bev Pod.’
They had something good going in Philly last season man…. pic.twitter.com/hC7N4HdzG8
— Pat Bev Pod (@PatBevPod) April 3, 2025
“Some GMs try to outsmart the game,” he added. “One player gets hurt, they think the team might go down, we’ll blow it all up. Let’s focus on the draft. I feel like that’s what happened when they traded me and a couple of other people. We had a good [expletive] team, right? Yeah, [Joel Embiid] got hurt. Yeah, you go on a downstretch. I think Tyrese Maxey missed a couple of games at the time, so of course, we’re going to lose some games. But we had Nicolas Batum, we had Marcus Morris, Mo Bamba in the cut. Obviously, I was there with everything surrounding. They make the trade for me and bring in Kyle Lowry. It’s no surprise to me why they’re doing so awful.”
Last season, Beverley joined the Sixers on a one-year deal. He played in 47 games before being a part of a trade deadline deal, getting moved to the Milwaukee Bucks. While Beverley embraced the change, there seems to be a part of him that’s left disappointed by the “what-ifs” with last year’s original Sixers squad.

In those 47 games, Beverley was a major spark off the Sixers’ bench defensively. Offensively, he averaged six points and three assists while shooting 43 percent from the field. The Sixers traded Beverley while his stock was rising. The team struggled post-deadline, as an injury to Joel Embiid became difficult to overcome.
The Sixers made the playoffs last year, but fell short against the New York Knicks in round one. Major changes were made once again in the summertime. The 2024-2025 NBA season ended up being a major flop for Philly. After this week, their season ends. It will be the first time the Sixers miss the playoffs since 2017. In Beverley’s eyes, he doesn’t seem to see an easy solution.
“Overthinking the game in a basketball organization can cost you years to get back to fix the repair,” the veteran finished.
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Justin Grasso was a credentialed writer and publisher covering the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated’s Philadelphia 76ers On SI Network. Grasso got his start in sports media in 2016 with FantasyPros, working the news desk, providing game-by-game player analysis and updates on the Portland Trail Blazers and the Golden State Warriors. By 2017, he joined FanSided’s Philadelphia Eagles site as a staff writer. After spending one season covering the Eagles as a staff writer, Grasso was promoted to become the site’s Co-Editor. For the next two NFL seasons, he covered the Eagles closely before broadening his NFL coverage. For a brief stint, Grasso covered the NFL on a national basis after joining Heavy.com as an NFL news desk writer. In 2019, Grasso joined the 76ers' beat on a part-time basis, stepping into a role with South Jersey’s 97.3 ESPN. Ahead of the 2019-2020 NBA season, he concluded a three-year stint covering the Eagles and joined the Sixers beat full-time. Grasso has covered the 76ers exclusively since then for Sports Illustrated. He is a member of the Pro Basketball Writers Association. Twitter: @JGrasso_ Instagram: @JGrassoMedia Threads: @JGrassoMedia
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