What ESPN’s NBA Rank 2026 got right—and wrong—about the Sixers

With NBA training camps right around the corner, ESPN is rolling out the latest edition of its annual NBA Rank exercise, which ranks players “based on predicted contributions—quality and quantity—for the 2026-27 regular season.”

Unsurprisingly, the Sixers’ starting five was well-represented. Here’s where they checked in this year:

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No other Sixers players made the list.

Before getting too bent out of shape about where any of the Sixers landed here—Embiid in particular—it’s again worth emphasizing that ESPN’s panel factored in “quality and quantity” of predicted contributions this coming season when building these rankings. Vince Goodwill specifically brought that up in Embiid’s writeup.

“When Embiid plays, he’s productive and must be accounted for on every scouting report—a shoo-in for 27 points and eight boards and a matchup nightmare with his ability to score at all three levels,” Goodwill wrote. “But ‘when he plays’ is still an issue, the biggest question mark for whether this talent-laden 76ers experiment can lead to a run through May. Since winning MVP in 2023, he has played in a possible 96 of 246 games.”

For context, Embiid landed directly ahead of Rudy Gobert, De’Aaron Fox, Trae Young, Franz Wagner and Brandon Miller and right behind Anthony Davis (a fellow walking injury risk), Kyire Irving, Stephon Castle, Austin Reaves and Paolo Banchero.

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No one in their right mind would argue that Banchero is a better player than Embiid at this stage of their respective careers, but it’s fair to bet on Banchero playing significantly more minutes than Embiid this season. The Sixers haven’t outright proclaimed that Embiid won’t be playing in back-to-backs this year like they did ahead of their ill-fated 2024-25 campaign, but it’s safe to assume that he’s going to miss 20-plus games.

What ESPN’s NBA Rank got wrong

If nothing else, this exercise makes you appreciate just how stacked the NBA is these days. Zion Williamson fell outside of the top 50, although much like Embiid, availability concerns largely fueled that. Desmond Bane, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Trey Murphy III were all in the 50s as…

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Publish date : 2026-09-23 19:24:00

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