While the Sixers still have some business to attend to before their offseason can be complete, most of their Eastern Conference cohorts have just about wrapped up their work ahead of the 2025-26 season in the fall.
Now is as good of a time as ever to survey the landscape of an Eastern Conference that has lost a pair of championship-caliber teams due to superstar injuries. Very few sure things exist in the conference this year, and there is plenty of opportunity for new contenders to arise.
The Sixers are running back a roster fairly similar to the one that finished out last season in hopes of improved health and continued development from younger players propelling them back into contention. But how have the teams they will have to surpass changed over the summer?
Up next: the Indiana Pacers, whose dream run to the NBA Finals came crashing down in Game 7, when they fell to the Oklahoma City Thunder after superstar point guard Tyrese Halliburton tore his Achilles. From a victory away from the pinnacle of basketball to a gap year ahead, a lot changed for the Pacers on that night.
SCOUTING THE SIXERS’ COMPETITION
Boston Celtics | Indiana Pacers
Roster changes
Because of Haliburton’s injury, the Pacers are entering a gap year with unfortunate timing. Nobody expected them to make significant additions, but the anticipation had been that Indiana mainstay Myles Turner would eventually be re-signed. Out of nowhere, Turner ended up signing with the Milwaukee Bucks.
Indiana pivoted by swinging a minor trade for another stretch five and taking a few shots in the dark at the position:
Added: Jay Huff (trade), James Wiseman (free agency), Kam Jones (No. 38 pick in 2025 NBA Draft)
Retained: Isaiah Jackson
Extended: none
Lost: Myles Turner, Thomas Bryant, James Johnson
Turner’s production is not irreplaceable, but it is hard to find bigs capable of shooting and protecting the rim the way he can. Unless Huff and Jackson turn out to make up a dynamic platoon of sorts for the Pacers that they can rely on at center for years to come, they will have to reorient their team around Halliburton to some degree when he returns from injury.
MORE: Everything you need to know about the Sixers’ 2025-26 schedule
Depth chart projection
With Haliburton out, the guess here is that instead of elevating old friend T.J. McConnell into the starting five, Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle will slide Andrew Nembhard to point guard and start Bennedict Mathurin alongside him. It enables McConnell and Obi Toppin to remain spark plugs off the bench for a team that will rely on Pascal Siakam a whole lot more:
| PG | SG | SF | PF | C |
| Andrew Nembhard | Bennedict Mathurin | Aaron Nesmith | Pascal Siakam | Jay Huff |
| T.J. McConnell | Ben Sheppard | Jarace Walker | Obi Toppin | Isaiah Jackson |
| Kam Jones | Johnny Furphy | James Wiseman | ||
| Tony Bradley |
The most interesting pieces of this puzzle are Mathurin – a flawed player whose score-first skill set will be valuable on a team suddenly starved for offense – and Walker, a former lottery pick the Pacers are still waiting on to fully blossom. Walker is more of a four than a three, but he will probably have to log minutes at both forward spots in his third NBA season.
Sixers ties
The most significant connection between the Sixers and Pacers is McConnell, whose tenure in Indiana is now much longer and more memorable than his time in Philadelphia. McConnell reached 10 years of NBA service last year, became one of the most important pieces of an NBA Finals team and took over Game 7 of the NBA Finals for a prolonged stretch in the second half. His rise will never not be remarkable to think about.
Otherwise, fellow old friend Tony Bradley revived his career with Indiana last year. Bradley’s time with the Sixers was not very long, but it included his participation in the infamous “Seven Sixers” game:
One of Carlisle’s trusted assistant coaches, Lloyd Pierce, became the head coach of the Atlanta Hawks after a decorated run as an assistant under Brett Brown with the Sixers. Pierce, a defensive-minded coach, has often been credited with the development of Robert Covington from a stand-still shooter to an First Team All-Defense honoree.
MORE: McConnell reflects on hitting 10 years of service
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(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
