The Philadelphia 76ers were branded as winners of the offseason after flipping a deal for Jalen Brown and signing Dean Wade, but the move did not answer the biggest question hanging over them. They are better. They are still not built around a top-five player.
That is why the search around Brown has surged now. The 76ers have been pushed into the contender conversation at the same time as their ceiling is being checked against a simple standard: championship teams usually have one player near the top of the sport, and this group does not.
Joel Embiid is the reason. He once sat at the center of an MVP peak, the kind of year that changes how a franchise is judged, but he has fallen from that level. When that happens, a roster can look upgraded on paper and still feel short when stacked against the rest of the NBA.
The comparison is not new. In the 2000s, the LA Lakers had Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal. In the 2010s, the Boston Celtics had the Big Three. In the 2020s, Giannis Antetokounmpo- and Nikola Jokic-led carry jobs have defined what the league expects from the very best teams. The 76ers are being measured against that history, and Brown does not change the math by himself.
That is also what makes the Indiana Pacers part of the same conversation. They are one of the few NBA teams this year that can call themselves contenders while also lacking a true top-five talent. The difference is that the Pacers arrive there without the offseason hype the 76ers generated by adding Brown and Dean Wade, which makes Philadelphia’s gap feel sharper, not smaller.
The pressure now is simple. If the 76ers are going to be treated as real threats, they have to prove that a contender can survive without a true top-five player at the top of the roster. If they cannot, then the offseason win will read more like a useful upgrade than a complete answer.
For more on the deal market around Brown, see Jalen Brown Trade talk heats up after reported Bucks offer for Giannis Antetokounmpo.
