The Conference Finals Should Be a Wake-Up Call to the Sixers

Four days into the 2026 NBA conference finals, a few things have already become abundantly clear.

For one, the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs are both patently absurd. Victor Wembanyama is the most terrifying player possibly ever? Meanwhile, the Thunder don't just have the two-time reigning MVP and two other All-Stars, but they also have arguably the deepest roster in the league.

The Thunder-Spurs series has been anointed as the "real" NBA Finals, but whichever team wins it might be so banged up that the Eastern Conference champion will have a real shot against them in the actual Finals. The New York Knicks are giving real Team of Destiny vibes, especially after rallying for the second-biggest fourth-quarter comeback in the NBA's play-by-play era in Game 1 of the conference finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

For those who've already blacked out it, the Knicks also swept the Sixers in the conference semifinals. It's good to see that they're equal-opportunity butt-kickers.

The start of these conference finals should thus be a wake-up call to the Sixers in a few different ways.

This team is nowhere close

The Thunder and Spurs might as well be playing a different sport than the Sixers.

They're both miles better defensively. They both can match if not exceed the Sixers' top-end talent, and both blow the Sixers' depth out of the water. They're also far younger than the Sixers on average, particularly at the top of the rotation.

Both Thunder wing Jalen Williams and Spurs guard Dylan Harper left Game 2 with hamstring injuries fresh off a Game 1 double overtime, which calls their availability into question moving forward. Williams has been battling a hamstring injury for a big chunk of this season, while this would be Harper's first of his NBA career.

Both the Thunder and Spurs have the depth to weather the storm far better than the Sixers could, though.

Seeing the Thunder, Spurs and Knicks playing like this should reassure the Sixers that they are nowhere close to winning a championship as currently constructed. It's unclear what they could do to narrow that gap.

That should reduce their sense of urgency to escape from Paul George and Joel Embiid's contracts. Unless they're getting positive trade value for either one—which is unlikely and highly unlikely, respectively—George and Embiid will have more value to the Sixers next season than whatever they'd get in return would. (When healthy, that is.)

If the Sixers see a way to establish themselves as legitimate challengers to the Spurs and the Thunder in the near future, they'll have to explore those options. But if they're being realistic, they'll know that they don't stand a chance against the Thunder or Spurs until they can fully pivot around Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe.

Nurse's rotation patterns must change

If the Sixers do wind up keeping George and Embiid next season, they'll have to assume both of them miss at least 20-25 games for varying reasons. Anything short of that would be a major bonus, but the Sixers need to plan for that many coming into the year.

That makes it imperative for them to hit on the margins during free agency. They can't go into next year with as thin of a bench as what they had this season.

In the Thunder's Game 2 win over the Spurs, they played 10 players at least 10 minutes, one of whom was not J-Dub. (He played only seven minutes before he aggravated his hamstring injury.) The Spurs, despite being without De'Aaron Fox, played nine players at least 10 minutes and even gave Jordan McLaughlin seven minutes.

The Sixers barely had a playoff rotation that went eight deep.

That is not something that comes together overnight. Head coach Nick Nurse needs to spend the 82-game season developing the Sixers' supporting cast so they can uplift Embiid, Maxey, George and Edgecombe throughout the playoffs. The Big Four can't do it alone every night and expect to go far in the playoffs.

The Knicks and Cavs have routinely been going eight or nine deep in the playoffs as well. They've been getting different heroes from night to night, too.

In Game 1, Sam Merrill drilled three triples off the bench for Cleveland, while Jalen Brunson went nuclear in the fourth quarter. In Game 2, Josh Hart made the Cavs pay for their decision to sag off him and send extra help at Brunson.

During SportsCenter after the game, ESPN's Brian Windhorst noted that the Knicks have plenty of different ways to beat teams, which is what typically separates the good from the great. All four of Embiid, George, Maxey or Edgecombe could carry the Sixers on any given night, but they also can't get a goose egg from the bench and live to tell the tale very often.

No weak links

The Knicks' historic comeback in Game 1 was fueled by Brunson seeking out James Harden on every possession and cooking him like a well-done steak. Head coach Mike Brown openly admitted as much after the game.

The Knicks didn't have to spam the Brunson seek-and-destroy quite as much in Game 2 since they were ahead for almost the entire second half, but they did sprinkle it in throughout the game. The Cavaliers routinely sent help at Brunson so they didn't leave Harden alone on an island against him, which allowed Brunson to rack up a playoff-career-high 14 assists.

Because Harden is a weak link on defense, the Knicks are putting the Cavs into pick-your-poison situations with him. Either the Cavs stay home on their individual matchups and Brunson goes Harden hunting all game, or they send help and the Knicks get to feast on 4-on-3s as the Cavs scramble to rotate defensively. Neither option is good.

The Sixers don't have a defensive liability like Harden in their current starting five. However, Embiid is nowhere near what he was once was on that end of the floor. Opponents know it, too.

In his prime, no team would devise a game plan about attacking him around the basket. That's exactly what the Knicks did in Game 1, which led to a 49-point blowout that set the tone for the series.

Embiid missed Game 2 with hip and ankle injuries, and the Sixers were up for most of the game before running out of gas late. He returned in Game 3 nowhere near 100% and gave his all, but it was nowhere near enough against a Knicks team firing on all cylinders.

Embiid averaged a career-low 7.7 rebounds per game during the regular season and looked a step slow on defense for most of the year. The emergence of Maxey and Edgecombe should reduce Embiid's offensive burden moving forward, but the Sixers still need him to lock in defensively and fortify their frontcourt.

Otherwise, opponents will go right back to hunting him in next year's playoffs.

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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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