The Philadelphia 76ers have not done anything yet this offseason — which has actually not officially started — but the franchise has already been racking up wins along the way.
As expected, the lead-up to the 2025 NBA Draft has been littered with rumors and forced narratives. Teams are starting to show their hands, and so far, the 76ers have turned out to be one of the biggest teams to watch in the transaction tables.
Philly has seen itself get caught up in a slew of different kind of rumors regarding player movements. Hence, it is probably safe to pencil in a lot of moving parts for the franchise, even at this early juncture.
But this time around, the 76ers are once again in a position to triumph — not because they did anything spectacular, but because of a recent development that has the franchise ripe to mount a huge revenge.
The 76ers can finally seek revenge as the Celtics are on the verge of a complete collapse
The Celtics, probably the biggest rival for the 76ers, will most likely end up being an afterthought in the Eastern Conference race next season after they lost Jayson Tatum to a brutal Achilles injury — easily the most devastating injury a basketball player can incur. Even at the best of happenstances, he will miss chunk chunk, if not all of the 2025-26 campaign.
As a result, Boston is now gearing up for a fire sale. The Celtics were always going to be shredding salaries even if their script ended in a different turn this year, but now, it is now a given.
Much to Philadelphia’s incidental benefit — and Boston’s huge loss — the Celtics are reportedly gearing up for the possibility of a teardown with notable 76ers killers Jaylen Brown and Derrick White, in addition to Jayson Tatum, facing legitimate possibilities of an exit from the franchise, at least according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.
“Are teams making big offers and calling about Jaylen Brown and Derrick White? One hundred percent. The Celtics prefer not to trade them, from my understanding, but listen, if they get a big offer, they have to look at everything. And I think they're going to get, you know, offers on the three guys that they're focused on. They're going to get offers potentially on Derrick White and Jaylen Brown. And I think between now and the draft and free agency, they're going to evaluate what makes sense from a value perspective.”
If so, the 76ers should be ripe to exact revenge on the Celtics moving forward. Even last season, Philly showed a lot of resistance against the defending champs and even carved out a statement win on Christmas Day when everyone thought they were finally flipping their fortunes, only for that momentum to come to a complete stop once the 2025 calendar year kicked in.
But now, the 76ers should finally get the upper-hand on their biggest nemeses. Boston has won six of its last seven outings against Philadelphia, but that will almost certainly be an impossible stretch to replicate given its current state.
Everyone should be praying for Tatum’s recovery, but the Celtics’ reaction to such somber news suggests they acknowledge that their championship window is likely over. Now, it’s time for the Philadelphia 76ers to turn the tables around.