76ers' season unravels in ugly sweep vs. Knicks, leaving Philly in familiar place

The 76ers were riding high after a comeback vs. Boston... but, eight days later, their season is over

John Gonzalez

May 10, 2026

10:03 pm ET

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7 min read

Imagn Images

After the Philadelphia 76ers lost the first three games of their second-round series to the New York Knicks, Paul George was asked what the message should be. His reply was simple: he cursed and said "win a game."

[Narrator]: They did not win a game.

That was to be expected. With the Sixers, you always know how it will end -- badly, and usually sooner rather than later. Their annual summer vacation was slightly delayed this season when they upset the Celtics in the first round, beating Boston in the playoffs for the first time since 1982. Any goodwill accrued from that Game 7 win in Boston was undone in eight days by a no-show effort against the Knicks, who put the Sixers out of their misery and finished off the sweep on Sunday. Philly lost to New York by an average of 22.2 points per game. Game 2 -- played without Joel Embiid who suddenly popped up on the injury report with knee and hip issues, because of course he did -- was the only flicker of fight the Sixers showed in the series, and that faded quickly. As Embiid said when it was all over, the Knicks "were just better than us in everything."

Adding insult to injury, Knicks fans swarmed South Philadelphia like locusts and comported themselves with roughly the same grace. (A Knicks fan interrupted a moment of silence for Sixers head coach Nick Nurse's recently deceased brother and was booed for the lack of decorum.) The overall experience prompted more than one Sixers fan on social media to post something along the lines of how it would have been better to lose to the Celtics than get swept by the Knicks. The way the season ended for the Sixers was that deflating -- but it wasn't surprising.

A familiar Philly feeling

Crashing out of the postseason in abject fashion has become a franchise hallmark. The Sixers have lost in the first or second round in each of the last nine seasons -- except for last year, when they didn't make the playoffs at all. They haven't reached the conference finals since 2001. That remains one of the principal knocks against Embiid, who remains the only MVP in league history never to make it out of the second round.

In fairness, Embiid playing in the Celtics series just 17 days after having an emergency appendectomy was remarkable. It was yet another entry in a long list of ailments suffered shortly before or during the postseason, including a bout with Bell's Palsy, two orbital fractures, two torn meniscuses and a torn thumb ligament. Despite the latest medical procedure, he played well in four games against Boston, and they couldn't have beaten the Celtics without him. But as with all things related to the Sixers and Embiid, the good times didn't last. They never do. He played better than any of his teammates in Game 4 against the Knicks, but by then it didn't matter anyway. It was too late. That's how it invariably goes with the Sixers.

Just a few months ago, there was cause for some optimism with regard to the Sixers. Or if not exactly optimism, then at least not the usual overarching dread that has defined the organization for so long. The season began with low-to-no expectations. Whatever the oft-injured Embiid and uneven Paul George could produce was seen as a bonus. The immediate and future focus instead shifted to the promising young backcourt of Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe, as dynamic a guard combination as Philly had ever seen.

During the All-Star festivities in Los Angeles, I asked Maxey about teaming up with Edgecombe. He replied that Edgecombe "is like a little brother to me" and said "he's great, man. Not just basketball-wise, but for our team personality-wise and culture-wise for our organization." After winning just 24 games the season before due to various injuries and a back-end tanking effort that ultimately resulted in drafting Edgecombe, Maxey added that "this year we've done a really good job of turning things around."

[Narrator]: They did not, in fact, turn things around.

That is not Maxey or Edgecombe's fault. Maxey was an All-Star and is almost certain to make All-NBA, while Edgecombe finished third in the Rookie of the Year voting and even got one curious second-place vote, most likely cast from a pub in deep South Philly with spotty wifi.

The pair got some playoff experience together and even beat Boston. Those are positives to build on moving forward. But it's also fair to wonder if that pair would have been better suited this season and long term if they were still a trio.

So.., can anything change?

At the trade deadline, the Sixers opted to duck the luxury tax and ship underappreciated and underutilized fan favorite Jared McCain to the Thunder. At the time, President of basketball operations Daryl Morey said the Sixer