The Philadelphia 76ers are a controversial team when it comes to playoff contention. Their talented roster, with an MVP caliber player in Joel Embiid, first time all-star Tyrese Maxey, and newly added All-NBA caliber player in Paul George, should see success this season. Although, in the past they have not been able to surpass the second round of the playoffs with Joel Embiid as their star player. 

Last year, they had a much weaker roster with their starting five consisting of Tyrese Maxey, Kelly Oubre Jr., Tobias Harris, Nicolas Batum, and Joel Embiid. Combining this with the long term injuries of De’anthony Melton, Kelly Oubre jr., and Joel Embiid, they were a play in team last year and were defeated by the New York Knicks in the first round after taking it to six games. This was with Tobias Harris getting zero points in 29 minutes of playtime along with Joel Embiid still suffering from his torn meniscus and Bell’s Palsy.

This year, they have acquired many good role players and of course Paul George as their third star. They now have Andre Drummond, a great rebounding center, Eric Gordon, a solid three-point shooter and previous all-star, Caleb Martin, a playoff riser, Guerschon Yabusele, a previous NBA player and star in the Olympics for France, and Reggie Jackson, a good leader at point guard. Not to mention that Andre Drummond, Reggie Jackson, and Paul George are all close friends from previous teams, which will only increase the team chemistry. Also, they got two steals in the draft with Jared McCain from Duke who is an exceptional three point shooter and Adem Bona, who is a power forward-center hybrid who gives 100% effort on both ends of the court.

All of this gives them a better chance than they’ve had in years with them retaining all their key players from last year while adding and getting rid of players, making them a clear playoffs contender.