Winners and Losers From Sixers' Play-In Tournament Win Over Magic

The Orlando Magic's rough week started Sunday, when they lost to the Boston Celtics' third-stringers to blow their chances of hosting their first play-in tournament game. Instead, they traveled to Philadelphia on Wednesday and lost 109-97 in the No. 7 vs. No. 8 seed game.

The Magic now head back home to host the Charlotte Hornets on Friday night. The winner of that game gets the Detroit Pistons in the first round of the playoff. The loser's season will be over.

The Sixers, meanwhile, booked their trip to the playoffs with their win over the Magic. They're now shipping up to Boston to face the Celtics.

Before we turn our attention to the playoffs, let's look back at the biggest winners and losers from the Sixers' play-in win over the Magic.

Winners: VJ Edgecombe and Tyrese Maxey

No matter what happens from here—aka, how badly the Celtics desecrate them in the playoffs—the Sixers are in good hands moving forward thanks to Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe.

Maxey, who finished with a team-high 31 points on 11-of-25 shooting, didn't have the most efficient night of his career. But he used his trademark burst to maintain separation from the Magic throughout the night whenever they tried to make a run to take the lead.

Meanwhile, Edgecombe finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds in his postseason debut, which was only his eighth double-double of the season. He conceded afterward that he was "tweaking a little bit tonight," which is what he says happens "when you let a kid play in such a high-intensity game."

The Sixers will need Edgecombe to be a two-way impact player to give them any chance of upsetting the Celtics. And until Joel Embiid (appendix) returns, Maxey is the centerpiece of the team.

Loser: Jamahl Mosley

Magic coach Jamahl Mosley — Apr 5, 2026; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Orlando Magic Head Coach Jamahl Mosley reacts to a play against the New Orleans Pelicans during the second half at Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-Imagn Images | Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

Heading into this game, longtime NBA insiders were indicating that Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley might be a dead man walking. Losing like that against the Embiid-less Sixers likely didn't help his cause.

The Magic shot only 40.7% overall and 25.9% from deep on Wednesday. The Sixers weren't significantly better overall, but they drilled 12 threes compared to Orlando's seven and were far more efficient from the charity stripe (84.0%) than Orlando was (77.45%).

There's seemingly been a disconnect between Mosley and star forward Paolo Banchero this season, one which has bubbled up to the surface at times. Zach Lowe of The Ringer thought that if the Magic lost to the Sixers and lose to the Hornets on Friday to get knocked out of the postseason entirely, Mosley's hot seat would "erupt in flames."

Hope the Magic have a fire extinguisher handy Friday… just in case.

Winner: Andre Drummond

Andre Drummond taking a three-pointer against the Magic — Apr 15, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia 76ers center Andre Drummond (1) shoots in front of Orlando Magic center Goga Bitadze (35) during the third quarter of a play-in round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images | Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

This whole season has been leading up to this moment: The Sixers clinched their playoff berth with an Andre Drummond three-pointer.

'Dre has been bombing away from deep all year. After hitting only 18 threes across the first 13 years of his NBA career, he drilled 32 in the regular season this year alone. He added two more against the Magic, including one that put the Sixers up by 12 with less than a minute left.

Heading into the game, head coach Nick Nurse said he planned to use both Drummond and Adem Bona, but he didn't know how much he'd play each one. He figured to just test out the matchup and ride the hot hand. Drummond was the hot hand Wednesday.

The Celtics will present far different challenges than the Magic on defense. Bona might be the better fit against some of the things they do offensively. But for at least one night, Drummond stated his case as the Sixers' best option at center until Embiid returns.

Loser: Paolo Banchero

Apr 15, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Orlando Magic forward Paolo Banchero (5) controls the ball against the Philadelphia 76ers during the first quarter during the play-in rounds of the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images | Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

Wednesday was not a good night for Paolo Banchero truthers. (Are there even still Paolo Banchero truthers left?)

Banchero finished with 18 points on 7-of-22 shooting. He was 0-of-5 from deep on the night, and he passed up a handful of wide-open threes, which caused Orlando's offensive rhythm to fall completely out of whack. He was a game-worst minus-17 on the night.

Banchero seems to have been clashing with Mosley, so perhaps a coaching change will be enough to get him back on track. Then again, it's tough for teams to build around high-volume, low-efficiency scorers who don't offer much defensively or as a three-point shooter.

Banchero, who turns 24 in November, is still young enough to not let this loss define him. But the Sixers routinely left Banchero open from deep since he shot only 30.5% from there this season, and he couldn't make them pay Wednesday.

Until he can, he isn't No. 1 option material, even though he's expected to be exactly that for Orlando.

Winner: Boston Celtics

Derrick White, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown — Mar 6, 2026; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (0) has a laugh with guard Jaylen Brown (7) during the second half against the Dallas Mavericks at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-Imagn Images | Winslow Townson-Imagn Images

Who would you rather face, the team whom you just beat with your third-stringers, or the team without its star center?

Trick question! There's no wrong answer.

The Celtics and Sixers split the season series two games apiece, but we've seen this movie enough time in recent years to know how it ends. The Sixers might be able to steal a game off the Celtics, but that'll likely be about it.

Even if the Sixers had Embiid, they'd still be significant underdogs against the Celtics. Without him, the series figures to be a laugher.

That's good news for the Celtics, who can effectively use it as a tune-up for their second-round series against the New York Knicks or Atlanta Hawks.

Loser: Trendon Watford

Sixers forward Trendon Watford — Mar 3, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia 76ers forward Trendon Watford (12) shoots against the San Antonio Spurs during the fourth quarter at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images | Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

The Sixers staged a "quiet tournament" at power forward for most of the season before settling on Dominick Barlow as their PF of choice. Barlow wound up starting 59 games for them, while Trendon Watford (7) and Jabari Walker (6) combined for 13.

Barlow played 10 minutes off the bench Wednesday against the Magic. Walker and Watford didn't make it off the bench at all.

The Celtics will likely force the Sixers to try out different starters and/or lineup combinations as the series goes on. That means Watford's DNP against the Magic might not be a total death knell for his chances of appearing in a playoff game (and not just in garbage time, either).

But being out of the rotation entirely in the opening game of the postseason isn't a great sign for Watford's chances of carving out significant minutes.

Winner: 25-Game Suspensions

Sixers forward Paul George — Apr 15, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia 76ers forward Paul George (8) controls the ball against the Orlando Magic during the third quarter of a play-in round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images | Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

Paul George's 25-game suspension for a violation of the NBA's anti-drug policy likely cost the Sixers a shot at a top-six seed in the East. But now that they've earned a playoff berth anyway—and now that Embiid is sidelined, which drastically limits their ceiling—all's well that ends well.

Especially if George keeps playing the way he has since he returned from that suspension.

It's a relatively small sample size, but here are his pre- and post-suspension splits.

Pre-suspension (27 games): 16.0 points, 5.1 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 2.4 threes, 1.5 steals, 42.4/38.2/85.5% shooting splits

Post-suspension (10 games): 21.0 points, 5.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 3.4 threes, 2.2 steals, 47.2/41.5/74.3% shooting splits

At this rate, the Sixers might have to figure out a way to get George a month of rest coming out of the All-Star break again next year. He had only 16 points on 6-of-16 shooting against the Magic, but he chipped in five rebounds, five assists and two steals while finishing a plus-16 on the night.

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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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