How the Sixers Can Salvage What's Left of Their 2025-26 Season

Much like last year, the Sixers should turn their focus to individual player development amidst an avalanche of injuries.

Feb 11, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia 76ers forward Justin Edwards (11) and forward Marjon Beauchamp (16) talk during a timeout in the second half against the New York Knicks at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images | Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

The Sixers are in deep, deep trouble.

Tyrese Maxey has already been ruled out for the next few weeks with a finger injury. Kelly Oubre Jr. is out for at least another week-and-a-half with an elbow injury. Paul George can't return from his 25-game suspension for violating the NBA's anti-drug policy until March 25. And Joel Embiid is poised to miss his eighth straight game Saturday due to an oblique injury.

Few teams (if any) could survive that many injuries to key players. The Sixers aren't unique in that regard. But no one is apologizing for laying waste to the injury-ravaged Sixers. The grind of the 82-game regular season is merciless.

The Sixers, who've gone 5-9 over the past month amidst this avalanche of injuries, have slid from the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference to the No. 9 seed. They're 7.5 games ahead of the 11th-seeded Milwaukee Bucks, who likewise find themselves in free fall, so the Sixers' spot in the play-in tournament should be relatively secure.

But unless they miraculously return to full strength between now and the start of the play-in tournament, they're completely cooked.

This is an undeniably disappointing ending to an otherwise promising season, but the Sixers should look to salvage what they can out of these next few weeks. Even if their title chances are kaput, they should still use this final month as a springboard to a 2026-27 campaign that isn't dead on arrival.

Here's how they could accomplish that.

Can VJ Edgecombe be a point guard?

Feb 22, 2026; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Philadelphia 76ers guard Vj Edgecombe (77) dribbles the ball up court against the Minnesota Timberwolves during the first half at Target Center. Mandatory Credit: Matt Krohn-Imagn Images | Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

The only silver lining to Maxey's injury is that it opens the door for VJ Edgecombe to be the Sixers' primary ballhandler for the next few weeks.

As On SI's Austin Krell detailed earlier this week, the early returns have been decidedly mixed.

Edgecombe's athleticism makes him a nightmare to defend in transition, but he needs to continue working on his ballhandling and decision-making. Defenders are too easily able to strip the ball from him, and he hasn't found the proper balance between setting up shots for his teammates and calling his own number.

Both of those things could still come in time. It would be a massive development for the Sixers if they do.

Maxey has taken to the primary playmaker role, but he isn't a natural point guard either. If Edgecombe becomes a legitimate secondary ballhandler, it could help the Sixers weaponize Maxey more off the ball, which is where he truly thrives.

Maxey clearly used his inconsistent experience as the No. 1 option throughout the 2024-25 as fuel throughout this past offseason, and he came back as a far more confident player. The Sixers should push Edgecombe to test his limits as a ballhandler over the next few weeks to see what he needs to work on most this summer.

Which reserves deserve more playing time?

Mar 9, 2026; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Philadelphia 76ers forward Dalen Terry (14) knocks the ball from Cleveland Cavaliers guard Dennis Schroder (8) during the second half at Rocket Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images | Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

When injuries mounted early last season, the Sixers had little choice but to give Jared McCain a bigger-than-expected role. He took that opportunity and ran with it before suffering a meniscus tear that prematurely ended his rookie campaign.

Even though McCain struggled most of this year, the promise he briefly showed as a rookie convinced the Oklahoma City Thunder to fork over a first-round pick and three second-round picks for him at the trade deadline. (As it turned out, they chose… wisely.)

None of that would have happened had McCain not gotten some legitimate run early in his NBA career.

The Sixers likely don't have another McCain-esque hidden gem buried on their bench, but they should use these next few weeks to see what they do have in their deep reserves. That particularly goes for two-way signees MarJon Beauchamp and Dalen Terry, both of whom were first-round picks in the 2022 draft.

Beauchamp has appeared in only four games for the Sixers to date, although he's coming off the best game of his young Sixers career. In their blowout loss against the Detroit Pistons on Thursday, Beauchamp scored a season-high 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting and chipped in six rebounds, two assists, two three-pointers and one block in 31 minutes.

Terry has been a more consistent member of the rotation since joining the team after the trade deadline. He's appeared in seven games thus far and is averaging 4.4 points, 2.0 assists and 1.9 rebounds in only 13.6 minutes per game, although he's shooting just 40.7% overall and 33.3% from deep.

The Sixers should give both players some actual run to see whether either one would be worth signing to a standard contract this offseason. They should also push Dominick Barlow, Trendon Watford and Jabari Walker to scale up amidst this onslaught of injuries to see whether they're capable of doing so. That could go a long way toward determining whether the Sixers should pick up their team options on Barlow and/or Watford and guarantee Walker's full contract in 2026-27.

Overplaying Edgecombe, Quentin Grimes and Cameron Payne at the expense of a deeper rotation could leave the Sixers with more questions than answers about some of their reserves this offseason.

Should Joel Embiid even bother coming back?

Mar 7, 2026; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Philadelphia 76ers center/forward Joel Embiid (21) reacts to the official during the game against the Atlanta Hawks during the second half at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images | Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

With the Sixers' season going off the rails, some fans might prefer shutting Embiid down for the year. What's the point in bringing him back to battle for their lives in the play-in tournament, only to face the Detroit Pistons, Boston Celtics, New York Knicks or Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round of the playoffs if they manage to survive that?

The counterpoint: To salvage what's left of this era, they need Embiid to hit the ground running in 2026-27. Giving him some additional reps to shake off rust this year wouldn't be without risk, but it could go a long way toward helping in that regard.

It's unclear whether Maxey or Oubre will return at some point this season, but George will be back on March 25. The Sixers will have 10 regular-season games left at that point. If nothing else, George and Embiid (if healthy) could use those games to continue building their two-man chemistry.

After two disappointing, injury-ravaged seasons, wholesale changes could be coming to the Sixers this offseason. A late-season surge fueled by George and Embiid could stave off the impulse to blow this team to smithereens, though.

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Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac and salary-cap information via RealGM.

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