The Eastern Conference grew bit stronger recently when the Cleveland Cavaliers acquired Donovan Mitchell from the Utah Jazz in a big trade. That move should make the Cavs a long-term contender given their emerging young core.
The Philadelphia 76ers are a team built for now. They have amassed a significant amount talent led by Joel Embiid, James Harden and Tyrese Maxey as they chase a title in the 2022-23 season. They also have two terrific role players, Tobias Harris and PJ Tucker, who will make that starting lineup dangerous.
Bleacher Report put together a list of the top starting lineups in the Eastern Conference following the Mitchell trade and the Sixers are ranked third just ahead of Cleveland but behind top-ranked Boston and Milwaukee:
Following his trade to the 76ers, Harden helped lead a unit of Embiid, Maxey and Harris to a sparkling net rating of plus-17.6, one that contained a nice balance of offense and defense.
Tucker should be an easy fit, as he’s an extremely low-usage offensive piece who will spend most of his time setting screens or spacing out to the corners to knock down open threes. A whopping 88.6 percent of his three-point attempts came from the corners, and he converted 41.5 percent of those looks.
The only thing potentially holding this unit back is Embiid’s availability (he’s averaged 54.7 games in the six seasons he has played in) and the backcourt’s ability to contain dribble penetration. Overall, this is a really talented and lethal core.
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It remains to be seen just how well this unit will mesh, but the Sixers have one of the strongest starting lineups in the league on paper. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.
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