Philadelphia 76ers Preview: 5 Things to Look For in Opener

Oct 8, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Philadelphia 76ers center

The Philadelphia 76ers will open their regular season schedule at home against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday, Oct. 26 at 8:00pm

Wednesday night’s contest against the Oklahoma City Thunder marks exactly 196 days since the Philadelphia 76ers played their last regular-season game, and since then, there’s been a lot of changes surrounding the South Philly squad.

Most notably, Joel Embiid and Dario Saric (whom Philly acquired in the 2014 NBA Draft) will both be active for the Sixers for the first time in a regular-season NBA game, making the nationally televised season-opener one of the most anticipated Sixers games in years.

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Over the last few seasons, the theme around the Sixers heading into the season wasn’t exactly optimistic. Under former general manager Sam Hinkie, Philadelphia lost a ton of games in the hopes of collecting young talent through the draft.

Now, instead of waiting another season for the talent to arrive, much of it is finally here.

And while the Sixers likely won’t have a great season in the win-column, their new young talent will finally be displayed on the court as they attempt work and build together this season for the first time.

Unfortunately for the 76ers, they don’t have the easiest opponent on opening night.

Oklahoma City is led by one of the NBA’s top overall players in point guard Russell Westbrook, and also have a solid core consisting of Victor Oladipo, Steven Adams, Ersan Ilyasova and Enes Kanter.

There will be plenty keep an eye out for during Philly’s inaugural game of the 2016-17 season, but some questions protrude more than others.

Here’s five things to look for during the Sixers’ Wednesday night contest.