How much blame does Daryl Morey deserve for the 76ers woes

A lot of terrible things have happened to the Philadelphia 76ers in the last decade.

But how many of them actually happened under Daryl Morey’s watch?

Daryl Morey was hired by the Philadelphia 76ers on November 2, 2020. By my calculations, most of the bad luck, incompetence, witchcraft, inexplicable disasters and tragicomedy that has resulted in the royally screwed 2026 76ers happened before November 2, 2020. Trading the Jayson Tatum pick for the Markelle Fultz pick? Before Morey. Jimmy Butler trade? Before Morey. Tobias Harris and Ben Simmons contracts? Before Morey. Trading Mikal Bridges for Zhaire Smith? Before Morey.

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Morey was recently fired by the 76ers, ending his long and high-profile tenure as one of the league’s most philosophically convinced executives: 3-pointers and layups, no long twos. In service of that philosophy, he made mistakes, as does every GM. But most of the damage had already been done, and I honestly believe he positioned the 76ers as well as he possibly could have in his six-year tenure. His firing signalled that it was time for a new philosophy, but Morey gave the team a pretty good shot given the hand he was dealt.

Upon his hiring in November 2020, Morey was immediately presented with two non-negotiables. First, Doc Rivers was his head coach, having been hired just a month earlier. Second, Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons were his franchise players. Every move the 76ers had made for three full years was in service of that plan. Morey was handed the keys, sure, but they were for a company car with engine issues. So he quickly drafted Tyrese Maxey 16 days into his job, and got to work with what he was given.

There’s a scene in Rush (2013) when F1 driver Niki Lauda is test-driving a Ferrari and says “it’s terrible. Drives like a pig,” to which his mechanic replies “Oh, you can’t say that… it’s a Ferrari!”

That, in essence, is what Morey was presented with.

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He never got to test drive anything, never really got to buy his own car. And he had to stick with Embiid, the man who a tortured city’s hopes were all pinned on after years of intentional…

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Publish date : 2026-05-14 16:28:00

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