Ranking the top 10 must-see Sixers games during the 2024-25 campaign

The 76ers are flat out of excuses when it comes to an inability to contend for an NBA title.

They pulled off the biggest move of the offseason, inking nine-time All-Star Paul George to a four-year, $212 million contract in July. The Sixers arguably are the deepest they have been in at least 12 seasons and are expected to go deep in the postseason.

But before the postseason, a long regular season awaits. Here’s a look at the Top 10 must-see games on the Sixers’ 2024-25 schedule, which was released Thursday.

This matchup will mark the fourth and final time the Sixers and Knicks meet in the regular season. This game could have tiebreaker implications in the Eastern Conference standings.

The Knicks added one of the league’s best two-way players in Mikal Bridges via a trade from the Brooklyn Nets.

They have a big four in Jalen Brunson, Julius Randle, Bridges, and OG Anunoby as well as one of the NBA’s deepest rosters.

Knicks fans also hate Joel Embiid. As a result, this will be a must-see late-season contest.

Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving just might be the best offensive backcourt we’ve ever seen.

The Mavericks advanced to the 2024 NBA Finals by running a large portion of their offense through the duo. Dončić, a first-team All-NBA point guard, averaged a league-best 33.9 points to go with 9.8 assists and 9.2 rebounds. The six-year veteran also shot a career-best 38.2% on three-pointers.

Irving averaged 25.6 points and 5.2 assists while shooting 41.1% on three-pointers.

» READ MORE: Sixers tip off the season against the Bucks at home on Oct. 23 before a slew of early road tests

The Sixers guards will have their hands full while trying to contain the standout duo. And with the addition of Klay Thompson, the Mavs now have a big three of their own.

At the same time, the trio will have a tough time staying in front of All-Star point guard Tyrese Maxey, who averaged 19.5 points in two games against his hometown team last season.

The Mavs’ post players also will have a tough time containing Embiid. So this has a chance to be a high-scoring matchup.

Typically, you don’t pinpoint a game against the struggling Pistons as one of the Top 10 games to watch. However, this game marks Tobias Harris’ first game back at the Wells Fargo Center after signing with Detroit in July.

The standout forward had a love/hate relationship with the fans while playing for the Sixers the last five seasons. They loved to hate him for not living up to the five-year, $180 million contract he received in 2019.

It didn’t help that he was held scoreless in the Sixers’ first-round series-ending Game 6 loss to the Knicks.

» READ MORE: Sixers’ Nick Nurse happy to be ‘giving back’ to his hometown Iowa school with a basketball camp

He attempted only two shots and finished with four rebounds and three assists. He was a team-worst minus-10 in 29 minutes, 20 seconds.

Harris was criticized for not being aggressive and becoming the invisible man during certain stretches. He failed to shoot the ball while playing more than 18 combined minutes in the second and third quarters. But at the same time, Harris wasn’t used like he was when he scored 19 points on 7-for-11 shooting in Game 5.

He should get better opportunities in Detroit. And fans will get an early-season glimpse at whether he’s benefiting from those chances.

The Lakers have lost some luster, but LeBron James hasn’t at the age of 39. And he plays well against the Sixers, averaging 27.2 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 7.9 assists in 56 career games against them.

James, entering his 22nd season, signed a two-year contract extension with the Lakers in July. So this could be one of his last games in Philadelphia. He had 20 points, eight rebounds, and six assists to lead Los Angeles to 101-94 victory on March 22, snapping the Sixers’ seven game series winning streak.

As good as James is, the Lakers don’t have any capability of slowing down Embiid. And the 7-foot-2 center missed the March contest with a knee injury.

Embiid and Co. will be determined to make one of James’ final games in Philadelphia a disappointment.

The Sixers will open against the Bucks for the second consecutive season. Unlike last season, they’ll entertain them at home.

A year ago, James Harden missed the trip to Milwaukee while forcing a trade to his hometown Los Angeles Clippers. But the Sixers played well without him before losing by one point.

Fast-forward to a year later, the main storyline is Doc Rivers returning to face his former team. The Sixers fired him as coach following the 2022-23 season, but Rivers has a 2-0 record against them since taking over the Bucks’ coaching gig on Jan. 26.

Milwaukee also has an elite trio in two-time league MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, eight-time All-Star Damian Lillard, and three-time All-Star Khris Middleton.

This will be a great test for both teams to start the season.

Frenchman Victor Wembanyama showed in the Paris Olympics why he’s regarded as the future of the NBA. But one of his present-day goals has to involve being able to defend Embiid better than last season.

Embiid finished with a franchise-record 70 points to go along with 18 rebounds and five assists to lead the Sixers to a 133-123 victory on Jan. 22 at the Wells Fargo Center. He surpassed Wilt Chamberlain’s previous record of 68 points.

Embiid scored 24 points in the first quarter and 25 in the third. During that time, the sellout crowd chanted “MVP! MVP! MVP!” whenever he went to the foul line and at the conclusion of the quarter.

He accounted for nearly 60% of the Sixers’ points in the third: 25 points, two assists with five points created from assists.

Things were too easy for him in that game. Wembanyama, an NBA All-Defensive selection, was on a minutes restriction that night. The second-year player should be motivated to face Embiid.

The Sixers will entertain the Knicks in the East Group A opener for both teams for the second annual NBA Cup. However, this game will be interesting from a fan’s standpoint.

Why did the Sixers fans allow their New York counterparts to take over the Wells Fargo Center like they did in Game 3, 4 and 6 of the Eastern Conference first-round series?

The Knicks won that series in six games, but one of the last memories was how their fans turned the arena in Madison Square Garden south.

At times, The Center felt like a satellite campus of MSG. Three hours before the start of Games 3 and 4, Knicks fans tailgated in the parking lot. During the game, they loudly chanted “M-V-P! M-V-P! M-V-P!” when Jalen Brunson was at the foul line. They also chanted, “Let’s go Knicks!”

Their chants were so loud the in-game operation workers had to raise the volume of the music to drown them out. After Game 4, they chanted “[Expletive] Embiid,” and “Go New York, go New York, go!” on the concourse. And it didn’t stop there. After the game, Knicks fans placed a jersey on the Wilt Chamberlain statue outside the arena.

Sixers fans can’t allow this to happen, again, right?

This game will mark George’s first trip back to face the Clippers after spending the last five seasons in Los Angeles.

The Southern California native said he originally did not want to leave L.A. However, the squad offered him far less than what Clippers star Kawhi Leonard received in his extension. George, one of the league’s best two-way players, felt the initial offer of $60 million over two seasons was disrespectful.

But the Clippers might view his comments about how fans compare the Clippers to the crosstown Lakers as disrespectful.

“It ain’t the same love,” George said last month on his Podcast P with Paul George. “When I was in L.A., they [were] like ‘Man, you should’ve been a Laker.’ I’m on the B Team, that’s how the vibe and the love felt.”

George should still receive a solid reception from fans at the new Intuit Dome even though the Clippers never were able to break through during his tenure.

This is going to be a hostile environment for Embiid. That’s because no matter what the Sixers said about his sore knee last season, the Nuggets fans weren’t buying it. They believed the 2023 MVP missed the Nuggets’ Jan. 27 victory at Ball Arena to avoid facing Nikola Jokić at high altitude.

One reporter even asked coach Nick Nurse if there was a pattern of Embiid not playing in Denver since 2019.

But what actually happened was the Sixers’ athletic care team didn’t like what it saw from the 7-foot-2, 280-pounder during his pregame warmup and made the decision to shut him down.

» READ MORE: Sixers will open group play in the NBA Cup against the Knicks on Nov. 12

He was booed when he emerged from the locker room to join his team midway through the fourth quarter. When he wasn’t on the bench, the fans were vocal toward Embiid for missing four straight games here.

During the national anthem, a fan yelled “Embiid’s a coward,” drawing cheers. Then, in the first quarter, the crowd chanted “Where’s Embiid at? Where’s Embiid at? Where’s Embiid at?” They repeated that chant throughout game.

Embiid last played in Colorado on Nov. 8, 2019. Since then, he missed four matchups against Jokić and the Nuggets in Denver.

So the Jan. 21 meeting definitely is going to be interesting.

The Celtics’ Kristaps Porzingis could return in late December or January from his rare ankle injury. Even though his status is unclear, we should be in for a great Christmas Day game if all the other key players on both teams are healthy. This is a marquee matchup between the East’s two best teams in terms of star quality.

While the Sixers have three All-Stars in George, Embiid, and Maxey, the defending NBA champion Celtics have All-Star wings in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Boston also has one of the league’s best guard tandems in Jrue Holiday and Derrick White.

This looks to be a can’t-miss game in front of a national television audience.