March 31, 2026
Colleen Claggett/for PhillyVoice
Sixers head coach Nick Nurse is under a whole lot of pressure as the 2025-26 regular season nears its end.
Over the last two months, the same two subjects have appeared every time our call for Sixers mailbag questions has been put out.
Sixers fans want to talk about head coach Nick Nurse. Is he cut out for this? After an inspiring start to his time in Philadelphia, it has been an underwhelming tenure as his third regular season nears its end. Is Nurse likely to still be leading the charge for the organization in 2026-27? Has he been holding the franchise back?
And, of course, the Jared McCain trade. Sixers fans hated the deal the moment it was made and have only grown to become more disillusioned by not just the trade, but what led to it – with many viewing McCain's season-long struggles in Philadelphia before immediately blossoming with the Oklahoma City Thunder as a reflection of Nurse's poor coaching.
You will never guess what two topics we have on tap for this week's mailbag...
From @flyingchairs.bsky.social: Barring a surprise deep playoff run, will there be any major changes, either to the roster or management, this offseason? Seems like this team is stuck in limbo with both older and younger core pieces.
This question speaks to the enormous amount of pressure on Sixers brass for this season to turn into something, even if that just means a more-valiant-than-expected playoff effort that restores some amount of optimism and faith surrounding the Sixers within the city. This season ending on some level of a high note – this does not mean winning the NBA Finals – would be a significant development for not just Nurse, but also Sixers President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey, as they attempt to regain people's confidence.
Ultimately, as far as their job security goes, both Nurse and Morey really only need to maintain the confidence of ownership. Can they do it? It feels like Nurse is at greater risk than Morey, who rivals around the league would still consider one of the NBA's best executives, even if he is flawed in ways that present fans with massive amounts of frustration. While Morey handing out huge contracts to Joel Embiid (via extension) and Paul Gorge (via free agency) look like brutal swings and misses, his draft record in Philadelphia is strong and he has generally worked the margins extremely well.
What would someone going to bat for Nurse to keep his job point at to form their defense? There is no question he has entered a situation unlike the one he probably envisioned, but this is the Sixers' new reality: the team is built around one player who oftentimes is not available, and in part another one frequently sidelined. Nurse deserves plenty of credit for Tyrese Maxey's ascent; that and his supervision of VJ Edgecombe's tremendous rookie season are likely the strongest points in favor of Nurse getting a fourth year here.
Why focus on management first when the question first mentions major changes being made to the roster? Well, the reason Nurse (and, to a lesser extent, Morey) could be at significant risk this offseason if the current campaign ends poorly is that there is little to no maneuverability from a roster perspective. If ownership deems that there has to be something done to change the vibe and the focus within the organization, they have little recourse to adjust the roster.
While it is always easy to make minor adjustments on the fringes of a roster, the Sixers are stuck with Embiid, whose infamous three-year contract extension worth nearly $200 million kicks in next season. For all of the fuss that has been made about that deal, it has not even impacted the Sixers yet. George has two extremely expensive years left on his contract after this one; he could be movable in the 2027 offseason as a gigantic expiring deal but almost certainly will not be this summer unless the Sixers are willing to pay a premium to get him off their books.
Maxey is not going anywhere, either, Edgecombe is obviously off limits as well, and suddenly the highest-paid player under contract with the Sixers for 2026-27 is Dominick Barlow. There can be tweaks made; the Sixers will have a first-round pick – likely in the range of No. 21 overall to No. 24 overall – and they could either use it to add another young player to an interesting collection of them or try to swing a trade with it.
A potential analog for the decision the Sixers will be facing after the season: the New York Knicks and former head coach Tom Thibodeau.
Thibodeau was unquestionably one of the most successful coaches in the NBA over the last several years, helping New York work its way up the ladder into an Eastern Conference Finals after decisively dispatching the Boston Celtics in a series they were about to lead 3-1 even before the defending champions lost Jayson Tatum. But after losing to the Indiana Pacers in the following round, Knicks management decided it was not budging from a nucleus of Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart and OG Anunoby. The Knicks felt their current arrangement was not quite good enough to win it all, and they did not want to change the players, so they changed the coach.
The differences with the Sixers: Nurse has not been as successful in Philadelphia as Thibodeau was in New York, and the Sixers do not have the option to make wholesale changes to their roster the way the Knicks probably could have a year ago.
MORE: Paul George keeps his word, Dominick Barlow does a deep dive and more
From @williamick.bsky.social: Could you re-frame the Jared McCain trade and add in Cam Payne's addition? What would each player project in a playoff rotation if everyone is healthy, vs. if one of the guards goes down?
McCain's minutes are dwindling in Oklahoma City now – Ajay Mitchell and Jalen Williams have both returned – but that the 21-year-old is still playing at all for the best and deepest team in the NBA says quite a bit about the initial impression he made in his first several weeks with the Thunder.
Quite simply, McCain is still playing for head coach Mark Daigneault because he has gotten back to being an elite three-point shooter. McCain has gone 0-for-2 from beyond the arc in all four of Oklahoma City's games since his emotional return to Philadelphia on Monday, yet he is still shooting 40.9 percent on threes across a 24-game sample with the Thunder. It has come on gargantuan volume; McCain has averaged 4.8 three-point attempts per game despite only averaging 18.5 minutes. His 9.3 three-point attempts per 36 minutes – and 12.6 attempts per 100 possessions – crush his volume marks with the Sixers.
If McCain was still with the Sixers – or could somehow be dropped back onto the roster – he would be a rotation regular with the way he is shooting the ball. Since trading him away, the Sixers are 29th in the NBA in three-point percentage, shooting a brutal 32.8 percent on middling volume (22nd in three-point attempts per game).
Granted, the Sixers have been without Maxey, Embiid and George for considerable portions of that stretch, but part of McCain's value on this roster – as is alluded to in the question – is that he is as good of an insurance policy as the Sixers could have asked for to protect themselves in the case of Maxey and/or Edgecombe going down.
Nurse has liked Payne's minutes, and his three-point volume has been massive – nearly rivaling that of McCain with the Thunder, in fact – but he has only made 34.0 percent of those looks. On Monday night in Miami, Payne received his first DNP-CD since rejoining the Sixers. In the prior game, his 20th appearance of the season, he only logged two minutes.
While Payne provides more organizational skills for an offense, McCain has a higher floor and a higher ceiling because he is such a dynamic three-point shooter. It feels more like McCain is missed during a game where, for example, a funky zone defense flummoxes the Sixers on offense and they shoot poorly from beyond the arc in a critical loss with potential playoff implications.
MORE: In emotional return, McCain 'wanted to beat the Sixers'
