Power Rankings: Sixers jersey edition

Buying a Philadelphia 76ers jersey is a rite of passage for any fan. I will always remember my first Sixers jersey, a classic black Allen Iverson jersey. Pretty standard, but still cool and has aged well. Unfortunately, I also went through Elton Brand and Jrue Holiday jerseys, both of whom were off the team within a year or two of getting the jersey. I thought me buying a player’s jersey was a curse for the player, but luckily Ben Simmons has been on the team for almost four years after I bought his jersey.

For anyone who doesn’t have a jersey, now is a great time to start. The Sixers are contenders this season and should be for the foreseeable future. Buying a jersey is not a question, but whose jersey you buy is. To answer this question, let’s rank each Sixers player based on whose jersey is best to buy.

How can you best show your Sixers fandom?

For these rankings, we will be focusing on current players only. Everyone knows a Dr. J or Round Mount of Rebound jersey would be a great buy, so ranking them is not necessary. To measure each jersey, each player will be rated on a scale of one to five in four categories and the total of the four categories will be added together for the final score. The four categories are

1. Watchability: How enjoyable a player is to watch on the court. It is much more fun watching Joel Embiid play with grace than watching Dwight Howard get four fouls in 12 minutes.
2. Future with team: How long the player projects to be with the team based on contract length and likelihood to re-sign. No one wants to buy a jersey only to have that player leave a season later. The potential for trades is not considered in this, mostly because predicting who will get traded is very difficult.
3. Franchise value: How valuable the player is to the franchise if the player left the team today. For example, if Ben Simmons and Tyrese Maxey both left the team today, Simmons’ jersey would have much more value going forward than Maxey’s because of his accomplishments with the team to this point.
4. Unintentional comedy: How enjoyable a player is based on non-basketball reasons. Also, the uniqueness of the jersey is considered in this category. The Mike Scott hive is making a comeback!

Keep in mind, everyone has different preferences. While I may value all four of these categories evenly, someone may prefer more outside-the-box jerseys or only think about how long the player will be with the team. Ultimately, use this as a guide but pick whoever you want!

Let’s get started!