Don’t Sleep: Sixers are getting healthy at the right time and the rest of the East should be nervous

Joel Embiid is back. Paul George is back. Tyrese Maxey and Kelly Oubre Jr are close. The Sixers have nine games left in the regular season and are in the midst of a very tight race for seeding in the East. Things just got a whole lot more interesting.

Let’s pump the brakes on the doom and gloom for a second. I’m so sick of all the “Philly sports fans” on social media that want to be emotional rats and write off the Sixers any time something is posted about them. You’re not helping anything. In fact, you’re feeding into the already doomsday national media that will stop at nothing to discredit the Sixers and Joel Embiid specifically.

Yes, the Sixers are currently the 7th see in the East. Yes, the schedule has some genuinely nasty road games coming up, but here’s what the standings don’t tell you.

For most of this season, this team has been running on fumes. Joel Embiid missed 13 straight games with an oblique strain. Paul George sat out 25 games on a league suspension.

Tyrese Maxey has been out with a right pinkie tendon injury. Kelly Oubre Jr. went down with a sprained elbow. The Sixers have been playing shorthanded for weeks, and they still scratched their way to remain relevant over the final 10 games of the regular season.

Look at us now. The Sixers are finally getting healthy with nine games left and playoff positioning to play for. I don’t know about you guys but I’m definitely ready to get hurt again OR throw a nice late Spring / early Summer parade down Broad Street. Bad news for the doubters, I’m leaning towards parade.

Wednesday night against the Bulls was the proof of concept.

Embiid dropped 35 points on 12-of-17 shooting, seven assists and six boards… in 28 minutes… in his first game back.

Paul George posted 28 points, six rebounds and four steals in fewer than 26 minutes returning from his suspension.

Together they accounted for 63 of the 157 points Philadelphia hung on Chicago, the most the franchise has scored in a game in 56 years.

They looked like themselves and the Sixers as a whole looked like a team that hasn’t fully woken up yet. Again, Maxey and Oubre aren’t far behind, either.

Health is Always Top of Mind:

Player	Status	Notes
Joel Embiid	✅ Back	35 pts, 7 ast, 6 reb in return vs. Bulls
Paul George	✅ Back	28 pts, 4 stl in return vs. Bulls
Tyrese Maxey	🔄 Close	Re-evaluation this weekend/early next week
Kelly Oubre Jr.	🔄 Close	Re-evaluation this week
Johni Broome	❌ Out	Right knee surgery, done for season

Maxey has reportedly been making steady progress on his right pinkie and could be back as soon as this weekend. Oubre was already due for a re-evaluation this week. If both of them return within the next few games, the Sixers will be running out their full starting lineup for the first time all season going into the most important stretch of the year.

Think about what that looks like on paper.

Maxey, George, Oubre, Embiid, and whoever fills the fifth spot with VJ Edgecombe waiting to wreak havoc. That’s a legitimate basketball team. Miss me with the play-in team talk because if we can win a few key games down the stretch, the Sixers could be looking cleanly at the No. 5 or No. 6 seed and be one of the most dangerous teams entering the playoffs in the EAST.

Sixers Updated Standings

Seed	Team	W-L
5	Hawks	41-32
6	Raptors	40-32
7	76ers ← HELLO?	40-33
8	Magic	39-34
9	Hornets	39-34
10	Heat	39-34

One game out of 6th. One and a half out of 5th. Three teams knotted up a game and a half behind us. This race is going to come down to the wire, and the Sixers just became the most dangerous team in this cluster because they’re the only one that just got two All-Stars back and one more on the way, along with playoff riser Kelly Oubre Jr.

Sixers Remaining Schedule (9 Games)

Date	Opponent	Location	Opp. Record	Difficulty
Mar 28	at Hornets	Away	39-34	🟢 Winnable
Mar 30	at Heat	Away	39-34	🟡 Competitive
Apr 1	vs Wizards	Home	~16-56	🟢 Gimme
Apr 3	vs Timberwolves	Home	44-28	🟡 Winnable
Apr 4	at Pistons	Away	53-20	🔴 Tough
Apr 6	at Spurs	Away	53-18	🔴 Tough
Apr 9	at Rockets	Away	43-27	🟡 Competitive
Apr 10	at Pacers	Away	~15-57	🟢 Winnable
Apr 12	vs Bucks	Home	29-41	🟢 Winnable

Before Wednesday, this schedule looked brutal. A seven-game stretch with the Pistons, Spurs, and Rockets had “4-5 finish and pray you make the play-in” written all over it.

With a full roster, the math shifts and now I’m not sure if any of those games look tough.

The gimmes are still gimmes: Wizards, Pacers, Bucks, Hornets are all very gettable. The Heat road game is winnable with Embiid. The Timberwolves home game, which looked like a probable loss three days ago, is now a 50/50 with Joel on the floor.

The brutal games feel different: Detroit is a loss, probably. San Antonio is going to be hard. But the Rockets on the road? With a locked-in Embiid, a hot George and a returning Maxey? That’s a game you can win.

Revised projection: 7-2. The two losses come from Detroit and San Antonio, two of the three best records in basketball. Everything else is genuinely in play for a healthy Sixers squad. A 7-2 finish gets them to 47-35. That’s a top-5 seed. Possibly top-4 if other teams stumble.

Changes to the Sixers Playoff Picture:

At 40-33 and climbing, let’s reframe what’s realistic.

If they finish 5-4 (conservative): Land at 45-37, probably hold the 7 seed, play-in game vs. the Magic, winner faces Celtics. Survivable.

If they finish 6-3 (moderate): Land at 46-36, likely lock up the 6 seed, first-round matchup with the Knicks. Real opportunity.

If they finish 7-2 (optimistic, but realistic with a full roster): Land at 47-35, potential 5 seed, first-round matchup with the Cavaliers. Now we’re talking.

The Sixers went from a team fighting to avoid the play-in to a team that could legitimately threaten for a top-5 seed… in the span of one game.

I might be crazy but at the same time, that’s what happens when you get two of the most talented players in the conference back on the floor with an All-Star starter Tyrese Maxey waiting in the wings.

Honestly, the Sixers making a run at the NBA Finals during what many considered a “lost season” would be completely on brand. The narrative around this team has been relentlessly negative all season. Injuries, suspensions, lost games, wasted months. This roster has spent most of 2025-26 as a science experiment in roster attrition but that’s exactly why the next nine games are so fascinating.

What does this team look like fully healthy? We’re about to find out.

Embiid is back. George is back. Maxey and Oubre are close. If the Sixers can stay healthy for nine more games, they have the talent to close strong, lock up a top-6 seed, and walk into the playoffs as the most dangerous low seed in the Eastern Conference.

Don’t sleep on them.

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