In some ways, it feels like a day of panic in Boston as the Celtics have played no small part in helping to build a new superteam in Philadelphia. First, the 76ers erased a 3-1 deficit, coming back to eliminate the Cs from the playoffs in round one.Â
Then, the Sixers, of all teams, are the ones who came to the forefront and won the Jaylen Brown sweepstakes. And to top it all off, they signed one of the greatest players of all time and one of the biggest individual Celtics rivals of all time, LeBron James, to a veteran minimum.
That’s quite a sequence of events for a three-month span, and now we’re looking at Philly trotting out an opening day lineup of Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, Jaylen Brown, LeBron James, and Joel Embiid. What kind of bizarro world are we living in?
Despite moves, Celtics still on even ground with Sixers
And yet, is that Sixers team really that much of a threat? They are still overly reliant on Embiid, who can barely stay on the floor. James is still great, but he’s 41 and isn’t going to bring it on the defensive end on a nightly basis. Maxey, Brown, and VJ should be available, but they all do similar things and occupy similar spaces.
There are going to be some growing pains, and this team doesn’t exactly have a long time to figure it out. Embiid and James are well past their respective primes and hoping for a Last Dance kind of run. But it’s not going to be easy with a new collection of parts, all at different points in their careers and with different individual goals, trying to come together and lead a franchise that hasn’t made the conference finals in over 25 years.
Vegas odds aren’t buying it either
Even in the wake of the trade, the sportsbooks aren’t fawning over the Sixers, declaring them favorites, or anything close. In fact, DraftKings still has Philly’s over/under at 50.5 wins, one lower than the Celtics at 51.5. And even with the boost in bets from the recent acquisitions, they still have the Spurs and Thunder as the heavy favorites to win it all in 2026-27.
The Knicks are also still listed as favorites to win the Eastern Conference, with seven teams having odds of 11:1 or shorter, meaning that the East is still completely wide open. These were some nice, flashy moves by the Sixers, no doubt about it. But it’s not like they’ve built a juggernaut and are going to cruise to the Finals now.
Far from it. Like the Sixers, the Celtics need to just focus on themselves. Get back to work and stay focused on their own squad. If Boston keeps leaning into their system, Jayson Tatum is back at full strength with a chip on his shoulder, the young guys keep improving, and Joe Mazzulla keeps growing as a coach, the Celtics will be very good and will be right back in the same crowded mix as the 76ers.
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