February 11, 2026
Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Imagn Images
Jared McCain's departure heightens the workloads of VJ Edgecombe an Quentin Grimes.
When the Sixers take the court for Wednesday night's home game against the New York Knicks, they will look different than they did last time they played at Xfinity Mobile Arena. But not all that much.
Last time this team was in Philadelphia, it had Jared McCain and Eric Gordon as members of its ranks. Those two players were traded during a lengthy West Coast trip, with no players as part of the returns in either trade. The new faces on Wednesday will be Patrick Baldwin Jr., a 10-day contract signee who was brought in just in case the Sixers needed time to work through Dominick Barlow's new standard contract, and Dalen Terry, signed to a two-way contract to backfill Barlow's spot on Tuesday.
With one game left until the All-Star break, let's see how national experts feel about the not-all-that-new-look Sixers:
As always, John Schuhmann focuses on the various statistical trends emerging from the Sixers season. And with McCain now a member of the defending champions, it is worth focusing on the Sixers' shortened guard rotation:
"There were a lot of surprising moves made at the trade deadline, and the Sixers sending Jared McCain to Oklahoma City was near the top of the list. But the second-year guard ranked ninth on the team in minutes per game and 10th in total minutes in the clutch, when the Sixers favored Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe and Quentin Grimes in the backcourt. (They’re also not afraid to have Trendon Watford handle the ball.) They’ve outscored their opponents by 9.4 points per 100 possessions in 436 total minutes with Maxey, Edgecombe and Grimes on the floor together." [NBA.com]
The three-guard lineups with Maxey, Edgecombe and Grimes dominated early in the season, powering the Sixers' success despite Joel Embiid's significant limitations. But head coach Nick Nurse has relied on those units less frequently as the season has gone on, in part because of improved health across the roster.
MORE: What can the Sixers get in a trade for the first-rounder acquired for McCain?
Tim Bontemps makes an interesting point: it is not just that McCain was traded that is newsworthy, but who opted to trade for him:
"There is plenty of consternation in Philadelphia over the 76ers choosing to trade Jared McCain to the Thunder for a first-round pick and three second-rounders last week, which allowed the franchise to dip out of the luxury tax. Only time will tell if Daryl Morey's assertion that the 76ers sold high on McCain is accurate, but it is interesting that Oklahoma City was the only team inside the top 10 in the league from a record standpoint that moved a first-round pick to add a player, and that McCain was their choice to do it with." [ESPN]
Thunder shot-caller Sam Presti is renowned for his roster-building brilliance, and as Oklahoma City gears up for another run at the NBA Finals, it is fitting that Presti's lone acquisition was probably more about the future than the present. The last time Presti traded a first-round pick to acquire a player under contract: 2016, when he traded a first-round pick to the Sixers for Jerami Grant. That first-rounder turned into Maxey.
MORE: Morey's full comments on inactive deadline
Count Law Murray as another person not particularly enthused by the Sixers' inability to land a single player at the deadline:
"It’s not as if the Sixers moved the needle with anything they did. Eric Gordon’s contract got dumped on Memphis. But Philadelphia has played well. Barlow got promoted, which is well deserved because Barlow has started more games than anyone on the team besides guards VJ Edgecombe and All-Star Tyrese Maxey. And Joel Embiid is the NBA’s leading scorer since Jan. 16, a wholesome turnaround considering the fact that he was averaging a point a minute just before this point two years ago." [The Athletic]
It is remarkable how significant of a turnaround Embiid has staged, even since those early days this season in which he could only log 20 minutes and looked like a total shell of himself. Embiid has been as good as any big in the league over the last month and change, and the Sixers still see room for improvement for the former NBA MVP.
MORE: How Barlow earned an unusual contract; what happens to Jabari Walker now?
Follow Adam on Twitter: @SixersAdam
