A disastrous Sixers season comes to a close and the players say things can't get worse

Keith Pompey, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Apr 13, 2025

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PHILADELPHIA — The 76ers’ season began with a lot of promise only to end in disappointment. So before Sunday’s season finale, Tyrese Maxey was asked what positives he could take away from the campaign.

“This is going to sound bad, but the one positive I do take away is the only way it can go from here is up. You know what I mean?” Maxey said. “Honestly, and then it gives us something to build on.”

The Sixers completed arguably the most disappointing season in the franchise’s 76-year history Sunday with a 122-102 loss to the Chicago Bulls at the Wells Fargo Center.

Lonnie Walker IV had career highs with eight 3-pointers and 31 points in the loss, as the Sixers finished the season with a 24-58 record after losing 31 of their last 36 games. Guard Kevin Huerter scored 18 points to lead five Bulls in double figures.

The Sixers finished with a 9-73 record during the 1972-73 season and 10-72 during the 2015-16 campaign. But unlike those seasons, they were expected to contend for an NBA title this season. They signed Paul George in the offseason to form a Big Three with Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey.

But after it was obvious that their season would become a disaster, the Sixers did a masterful job of tanking to secure the league’s fifth-worst record. As a result, they have a 63.9% chance of keeping their first-round draft pick, which is top-six protected.

Like Maxey, Kelly Oubre Jr. was asked about the positives he can take from this season. He gave a similar answer.

“It can’t get any worse, one, and two, this is like now we can figure out the issues and fix them,” Oubre said. “Come back, take this offseason, come back stronger, bigger, better, faster, stronger,and not be in this position again.

“So when it rains, the sun’s got to shine one day. So I’m looking forward to sunshine.”

Embiid missed the entire preseason and the first nine games of the regular season because of his ailing left knee and a three-game suspension. George also missed most of the preseason and the first five games of the season after hyperextending his left knee and suffering a left knee bone bruise in an Oct. 14 exhibition game against the Atlanta Hawks.

Embiid, who played in just 19 games because of an ongoing left knee injury, had arthroscopic surgery on Wednesday. George, who played in only 41 games, received injections in the left adductor muscle in his groin and his left knee on March 17.

There’s no denying that the duo’s injuries were a major issue, along with injuries to team. The Sixers concluded the season Sunday with 10 players sidelined with injuries.

But there was another incident that hinted toward injuries not being the only problem.

They had a well-publicized team meeting after a blowout road loss to the Miami Heat on Nov. 18. The highlight of that meeting was Maxey challenging Embiid to be on time for team activities. Players also told coach Nick Nurse that they wanted to be coached harder. The coaches, in turn, said they wanted the players to participate with purpose and attention to detail.

Did the locker room recover from that incident?

“That’s a good question,” Eric Gordon said. “We shouldn’t be in that position, I feel like, especially that early in the year to have a conversation as a team and be in that position.

“But, like I said, we overcame it. We went through a lot: Injuries, trying to figure out ways to get chemistry. It even got to the point where we were even trying to figure out ways to win. It’s been tough all year. That was a crucial time early in the year that we just really couldn’t overcome it.”

This was Gordon’s 17th NBA season. He played on several squads that had lofty expectations. But the weight of this team felt different from some of the other teams he’s been on with high expectations.

“It’s a tough one. It’s a tough one,” he repeated. “Like I said, who would have thought that we would be in this position before the season started, you know? You would have never thought that.

“That’s why I said we’ve got to look forward to next year and try to get back on track.”

George is confident that will happen. But the nine-time All-Star didn’t see the Sixers being 13th in the Eastern Conference standings.

He knew it would take time due to the injuries and having to build continuity. George, however, expected things to come together by the end of the season.

“Obviously, you’ve got to be optimistic in every situation given the talent that we have,” he said. “I think moving forward, hopefully, we can get healthy, work extremely hard this summer. I think it’ll be a different summer.

“At least for me, I’m not deciding where my future is or who I’m going to play for in the upcoming season. I know exactly where I’m at and what I need to do this summer and kind of go from there.”