Instant Reactions to Sixers Schedule amid New James Harden Comment

James Harden doesn’t plan on being on the court when the Philadelphia 76ers open the 2023-24 season. The entire 82-game slate was released the other day, showing the season opener scheduled for October 26 at the Milwaukee Bucks and the home opener slotted for October 29 versus the Portland Trail Blazers. Tickets are available now.

The question of whether Harden will be with the team doesn’t seem to be much of a question anymore. The future Hall of Famer told KHOU 11 reporter Jason Bristol that the relationship between him and the Sixers’ front office is fractured too deep. It can’t be fixed.

When asked specifically if it was beyond repair, Harden said: “I think so.”

There isn’t much more to say about the Harden situation. He doesn’t plan to wear a Sixers’ uniform this season amid reports of Daryl Morey shutting down trade talks. “I’ve been patient all summer,” Harden told Bristol. “For me, it’s just focusing on what I can control and getting ready for this season.”

Throw in Joel Embiid’s cryptic social media posts, combined with continued trade rumors around Tobias Harris, along with reports of the team waiting on a contract extension for Tyrese Maxey, and there’s enough drama to sink the Titanic. Buckle up for what should be a wild few weeks leading up to the start of training camp on October 3. The first preseason game is slated for October 8 against Boston.

Yet the schedule is out and it must be analyzed in depth. Let’s dive into the five most interesting storylines and matchups heading into the regular season. The Sixers have 29 nationally-televised games, plus a marquee matchup on Christmas Day against Miami. The team also has 14 sets of back-to-back games, four of which will come in January. It will be a grind — with or without Harden — and the journey begins in roughly two months.

This year marks the debut of what the NBA is calling the “In-Season Tournament.” Okay, but what exactly does it entail? Well, it is based on the in-season soccer tournaments played across Europe where clubs compete in group stages for a gold cup. Commissioner Adam Silver sees it as a way to gain more worldwide exposure for the league — and to earn more money from television rights — from the beginning of November through the first week of December.

Playing for the inaugural NBA Cup, the NBA split its 30 franchises into six groups of five teams. The in-season tournament starts on November 3 with four group stage games (round-robin play), then moves on to the knockout rounds (single elimination) on December 4. The semifinals and championship games will be played in Las Vegas from December 7-9.

The Sixers got lumped into Group A and they will travel to Detroit to face the Pistons on November 10 at 7 p.m. before hosting the Indiana Pacers on November 14 at 7 p.m. Here is the rest of their schedule:

Players will be incentivized for performance, too. Each member on the winning team will receive $500,000 and the runners-up will get $200,000 in addition to bragging rights — and a shiny NBA Cup trophy. Nothing that happens during the in-season tournament will impact postseason positioning or the regular-season standings.

“This is a concept that has been rumbling around the league office for about 15 years,” Silver told The Associated Press in July. “It’s not a new concept in sports. For those that follow particularly international soccer, it’s a long tradition of having in-season tournaments … so we thought, what a perfect opportunity for a global league like the NBA and it’s a perfect fit for our game.”

The Sixers will battle the Denver Nuggets twice in the regular season, which (hopefully) delivers two epic battles between perennial MVP candidates Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic.

One is the reigning MVP who watched his team get bounced in the Eastern Conference Semifinals; the other is the best player on the defending NBA champions, with two previous MVP trophies to his name.

Embiid and Jokic are the best centers in the game, but something always seems to come up and prevent them from going head-to-head. The talented Cameroonian went gangbusters when the Sixers and Nuggets met in South Philly on January 28 last season: 47 points, 18 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocks. Jokic turned in a respectable stat line in that contest — 24 points, 9 assists, 8 rebounds — as Philadelphia beat Denver 126-119.

However, Embiid chose to sit out the rematch when the series shifted to Denver on March 27. It was deemed a rest day (or load management) for the 7-footer who had balled out for 28 points and 10 boards two nights prior in Phoenix.

The Sixers had played 3 road games in 4 days heading into that one, so it wasn’t a surprise to see Embiid out of the lineup. However, it did rob fans of a marquee matchup — and some saw it as Embiid backing down from Jokic, possibly due to fears of exerting himself in the Mile High air.

Back to this year. The Sixers and Nuggets will square off twice: January 16 in Philadelphia and January 27 in Denver. Hopefully, Embiid and Jokic suit up for both contests which should be must-watch TV. Both games will be broadcast on national TV.

Nick Nurse is the new head coach for the Sixers after five seasons leading Toronto. He guided the Raptors to a world championship in 2019, hurdling over the Sixers on the way to raising the trophy, and left Canada with a 227-163 record (58.2% winning percentage).

Nurse, who was surprisingly fired by the franchise last April, will look for redemption right away when the Sixers and Raptors square off on October 28 in Toronto. The two teams also meet on November 2, December 22, and March 31.

It will mark the first of four regular-season showdowns against the Raptors, a team led by Pascal Siakam who has been a thorn in Joel Embiid’s side over the years. The Sixers won the season series 3-1 last year; one year after Philly knocked Toronto out of the playoffs in the first round.

It’s unclear whether Nurse will have those games marked on his calendar — the fiery head coach might circle the first one — but they should be intriguing matchups nonetheless. The Raptors lost star point guard Fred VanVleet in the offseason — a guy who was linked to the Sixers at one point — and replaced him with Dennis Schroder. Toronto also inked center Jakob Poeltl to an $80 million contract while returning young standouts Scottie Barnes and O.G. Anunoby.

There are always fireworks when Jimmy Butler faces his former team and one-time best friend Joel Embiid. Those two guys never stopped loving each other. Oh, what could have been … okay, enough of that dream turned nightmare. The Sixers will travel down to South Beach for a holiday showdown against Butler and the Miami Heat on Christmas Day at 8 p.m. on ESPN. It will mark the first of four contests between the two Eastern Conference title contenders.

The other ones are scheduled for February 14 (7 p.m. in Philly), March 18 (7:30 p.m. in Philly), and April 4 (7:30 p.m. in Miami). Expect brotherly hugs that linger at halfcourt between Butler and Embiid who wish they were still on the same team — and maybe one day they will be reunited and feeling so good.

The Sixers and Celtics battle on the following dates: November 8 (7 p.m. in Philly), November 15 (7:30 p.m. in Philly), December 1 (7:30 p.m. in Boston), and February 27 (7:30 p.m. in Boston).

Sticking in the Eastern Conference, they will face the Boston Celtics four times next season. The bullies from Beantown won three of the four games last season, then knocked the Sixers out of the playoffs in seven games to close out the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

This is supposed to be one of the most heated and storied rivalries in professional basketball, but it sure hasn’t felt that way. The Celtics have dominated the series in recent years, especially not in the postseason where Philly hasn’t defeated Boston in a playoff series since 1982.

March is shaping up to be the most grueling month on the schedule, particularly in the middle of the month when the Sixers get a murderer’s row of Western Conference contenders. They will face four playoff teams in six days during an extended West Coast trip starting on March 20 in Phoenix and ending on March 25 in Sacramento. Here is how that brutal stretch is slated to play out: at Phoenix (March 20, 10 p.m.), at LA Lakers (March 22, 10:30 p.m.), at LA Clippers (March 24, 3:30 p.m.), and, finally, at Sacramento (March 25, 10 p.m.). Yikes.

From there, they return home for one game at Wells Fargo Center — against the LA Clippers again (March 27, 7:30 p.m.) — before the squad hits the road for another six games in 10 days, with a home date versus Oklahoma City (April 2, 7 p.m.) mixed in for good measure.

The Sixers will have played 9 road games in 17 days when all is said and done, including stops in Cleveland (March 29, 7:30 p.m.), Toronto (March 31, 6 p.m.), Miami (April 4, 7;30 p.m.), Memphis (April 6, 8 p.m.), San Antonio (April 7, 7 p.m.). Yikes.

76ers predicted to plummet big time in the standings next season

The Philadelphia 76ers are predicted to plummet big time in the standings in the upcoming 2023-24 NBA season, which is just a couple of months away.