One Growing 76ers Concern Is Being Covered Up by 8-1 Start

The Philadelphia 76ers have gotten off to a great start in the 2026-27 NBA season. There's no doubt about that. The Sixers won eight of their first nine games in the campaign, with their only loss coming on the back end of a back-to-back without two starters.

But, for as good as the team has looked, there is still room for improvement. In fact, one major early concern for the Sixers has been largely masked by the team's strong start to the season

76ers starters have struggled from three-point range

As a team, the Sixers haven't shot especially well from long distance to start the season, and they're connecting on a relatively low number of distance attempts. The 11.4 total three-pointers that they're making per game is the fifth-lowest average in the entire NBA, while their team shooting percentage of 34.4 is middle-of-the-pack.

While mildly alarming at surface level, this trend becomes even more concerning when you dig deeper and realize that Philly's three-point percentage is being buoyed by bench players. Three of Philadelphia's top four three-point shooters in terms of percentage are bench players: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Anfernee Simons and Dean Wade.

Jaylen Brown (44.4 percent) is the only Sixers starter shooting above 35 percent from beyond the arc. Meanwhile, two Sixers starters - LeBron James (26 percent) and Joel Embiid (11 percent) - are shooting below 30 percent. As a group, Philly's first five is shooting just 32 percent and making just 7.2 triples per game collectively, which is 24th league-wide.

So far, these long-range struggles haven't really come back to haunt the Sixers, as they've been able to pull out wins despite being consistently out-gunned from long range, but at some point it will catch up with them. As a unit, Philly's first five consists of too many capable floor-spacers for them to be in the bottom third of the league. But, that's why there's reason to think that improvement is possible, and even likely.

Joel Embiid wants to 'quit' shooting threes, but he can't

Embiid thinks that the team's obvious struggles from three-point range start with him, and he recently joked that he was going to stop shooting triples completely.

"I think I might just give up on shooting threes myself," Embiid said. "[We] can't make any as a team. We shot pretty good tonight [against Indiana], but overall, since the season started, it just hasn't been it — starting with me. So yeah, I quit."

Joel Embiid: “Tonight might’ve been the last three I ever take.”

He’s 3-for-26 from three this year pic.twitter.com/jbZLpazjk5
— Kris Rhim (@krisrhim1) November 5, 2026

The thing is, Embiid can't quit. His ability to space the floor and pull opposing bigs away from the basket is a key component of Philadelphia's offense that opens things up for the rest of the roster. Nick Nurse recently acknowledged as much.

"I think it's hard to guard when you've got a big that can go out and pop," Nurse said. "...It's a lot of game-planning and all that kind of stuff. I think it will open up the driving lanes for some of those other guys."

Embiid hasn't made a three-pointer since Oct. 22, and while his struggles from deep have been the most glaring, the Sixers need collective improvement. Every starter, save for Brown, could be shooting better from long range so far this season. In fact, all Sixers starters other than Brown are shooting below their career averages from deep on the current campaign.

If those guys could just climb closer to their career averages, it would make the Sixers that much more difficult to defend, which is a scary proposition for the rest of the league.

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