The Philadelphia 76ers kicked off the 2025 preseason by laying bricks all over the hardwood. With nearly everyone engrossed with the “NBA is back” storyline, it is easy to ignore the fact that they were rather unpleasant to watch on the offensive end.
In fact, all it took was one half of preseason basketball to show to everyone the kind of mess the 76ers failed to cover up all summer long.
At the halftime break, the 76ers could only muster 43 points thanks to their putrid shooting from the three-point line, having drained just one of their 18 attempts after 24 minutes of gameplay. That, ladies and gentlemen, is good enough for a five percent success rate from rainbow country, proving that one of their biggest flaws from last season has subsisted.
While this could very well be tossed up to rust, this only confirms the inarguable fact that the 76ers have a very low floor as a shooting unit. The roster is not exactly blessed with reliable marksmen, and this meager shooting performance could very well end up being an ugly prelude as to how unwatchable the offense can get if their below-average shooters play up to par.
Yikes.
76ers struggle immensely from three-point range in their first half of basketball
No one aside from rookie guard VJ Edgecombe managed to drain a three-pointer after a couple of quarters of basketball. Tyrese Maxey, Justin Edwards, and Kelly Oubre Jr. combined for 0-12 from downtown — a laughable output which should knock some sense into the front office.
Last season, the 76ers registered the fourth-lowest three-point shooting percentage in the league while also being in the bottom third of the association in actual conversions per game. Thus, suffice to say that the perimeter game was not a strength of this particular core.
To make matters worse, the front office turned a blind eye to this fact. The 76ers signed a grand total of zero three-point specialists over the summer, and with Quentin Grimes, Jared McCain, and Paul George not seeing action yet, their dearth of three-point shooting will most likely subsist.
Hopefully, this is only a case of first game jitters or an precedented outcome give that the team is missing its three best shooters. But regardless of those facts, this should be an instant eye-opener for the front office to continue probing the market for more help to abate their weakness beyond the three-point line.