Milwaukee Bucks: Ranking top East teams following key free agency deals
By Adam McGee
2. Philadelphia 76ers
The Philadelphia 76ers will enter next season as not just one of the biggest wildcards in the Eastern Conference, but in the entirety of the NBA. A summer of high profile moves has left the Sixers in a really intriguing spot, albeit one that still requires an element of seeing how it all looks on the court.
Pivoting away from Jimmy Butler, who will have a chance to run his own team (and maybe their practices) in Miami, the Sixers have leaned into one of the stranger teams in the NBA.
Retaining Tobias Harris, and bringing in Al Horford and Josh Richardson sets Philadelphia up to field one of the biggest starting lineups in league history, and a group that could be historically suffocating on the defensive end of the floor.
The great unknown is just how the Sixers will perform offensively. They’ll likely have more than enough talent to get by against the league’s lesser lights, but how they’ll set up offensively, and who will take on go-to scoring responsibilities against the NBA’s elite remains to be seen.
Joel Embiid is likely best equipped to deliver on that front, but the postseason proved the value of having another option away from him as Butler starred for Philadelphia. Harris will likely be tasked with taking on more responsibility and that isn’t necessarily ideal.
Still, there’s no doubting that the Sixers exist in a different tier to the aforementioned teams on this list, and if the fit proves more comfortable in practice than it looks in theory, they could yet emerge as one of the true frontrunners to win it all next season.