The Best Moment for Every Sixers Player This Season
Daniel Olinger
So many more dudes played minutes for this team than you remember.
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Nearly every Sixers fan and writer feels the same right now — it sucks that the Sixers lost in the first round, but this year, they went out with their heads held high.

There was no “Boston outscores Philly 33-10 in the third quarter of Game 7.” No one passed up a layup attempt in the closing minutes due to fear of Trae Young’s weak-side defense. The Sixers played in one of the greatest first-round series in NBA history, and just barely came up short against a very good Knicks team. They went out with pride, disappointing as the result may be.

To commemorate a season that actually more or less ended without disgrace, I'm highlighting the best moment from each and every player who suited up for the Sixers in ‘23-24 – not just the guys who finished the year on the roster. And to be clear, way more dudes played for this team than you think: 28 in total, as a matter of fact. Only the Memphis Grizzlies, the Detroit Pistons, and the Toronto Raptors used more players than the 76ers did this season. And while that trio of teams were cycling through two-way players in hopes of landing better odds in the NBA Draft Lottery, the Sixers had two All-Stars and had very real hopes at contention. Even by Sixers standards, this was a weird season.

Without further ado, here’s the best moment from all 28 Philadelphia 76ers players this season:

Joel Embiid — Scoring 70 vs the Spurs

Not really much to dispute here. I hope people don’t forget how special Embiid was during the first half of this season. He joined Wilt Chamberlain as just the second player ever to finish with more points than minutes played in a season (while playing at least 50 minutes total), and his 70-piece broke Wilt’s franchise record of 68. Breaking Wilt records isn’t supposed to be humanly possible.

Never forget to cherish Joel Embiid’s scoring brilliance.

Tyrese Maxey — Knicks Game 5

Again — what else is there to say here? The three 50-point games Maxey dropped in the regular season each had cases as his finest moment of the year, but nothing can top what he did in Game 5 just last week. He single-handedly saved the Sixers season, and created a miraculous moment that will be replayed for decades to come by NBA fans. Did I mention he’s just 23 years old?

Nicolas Batum — Heat Play-In Game

“TUM! HERE COMES BA-TUM! Ready or not, here comes the boy from La France! TUM! HERE COMES BA-TUM! Ready or not — haha, Miami Heat Bon Chance!”

Kelly Oubre Jr. — Your Mom, Your Dad and Your Grandma

The Kelly Oubre signing was an undeniable success. He made just under $3 million this season on the veteran’s minimum contract, yet finished third on the Sixers in total minutes played, and was the Sixers’ third-leading scorer in the series against the Knicks.

But every Sixers fan knows what they’ll most remember Oubre for this season. Their Mom, their Dad, and their Grandma will remember it too.

Tobias Harris — 37 Points vs the Kings

Tobias was bad this season. Quite bad. Not just bad for a guy who made $180 million the past five years. For the second half of the season (really ever since the moment Embiid was injured in Golden State), Tobias was a well-below-average NBA starter. Of the six seasons he played in Philadelphia, this one was easily the worst.

That said, this is supposed to be a piece where the best is remembered, not the worst. And the best of Tobias Harris in 2024 was his 37-point performance against the Sacramento Kings (though as ordered by the law of basketball, he was not allowed to reach the lofty heights of a 40-point game). There was no Embiid that game, the Kings are a real team that won 46 games, and Tobias used his size to score over mismatches at will, as was the hope when he signed that contract five years ago. Even if you don’t want to remember the good times with Tobias Harris, this game was undoubtedly one of them.

De’Anthony Melton — The Rim Finishing

This is not me trying to be mean to De’Anthony Melton — a wonderful basketball player whose back injury was the second-biggest thing that derailed this Sixers season outside from the obvious No. 1. It’s a testament to how great Melton is as a three-point shooter, rebounder, and defender when healthy that he can still be a significant positive despite being one of the worst at-rim finishers in the league.

That said, his early season at-rim finishing numbers were comically bad, and honestly a great source of humor during that stretch where the Sixers looked like an inner circle title contender. It’s fun to look back on the days when the shortcomings of Sixers players were just jokes everyone could enjoy rather than fatal flaws that might doom the team in the playoffs.

Kyle Lowry — The Greatest Grifter in NBA History

You know that famous photo of the two dudes who swapped shirts after a crazy night in Vegas? That’s what it looked like watching Kyle Lowry grift for free throws in a Sixers uniform, having already seen Embiid master the craft over the past eight years. Game recognize game. Grift recognize grift.

Paul Reed — Game Winning Block vs Cavs

Even though he had a pretty awful end to the season (being terrible against the Knicks AND losing the guarantees in your contract because your team lost in the first round is a brutal 1-2), there were a lot of great moments for BBall Paul in 2023-24.

His 30-point game in Denver that almost led to a shocking hospital Sixers win was delightful. The four possessions in Boston where he absolutely cooked Al Horford felt like divine justice. Heck, this whole section could just be a compilation of Hubie Brown talking about how much he loves BBall Paul.

But for me, it’s his game-winning block against the Cavs – in Cleveland, with no Maxey and Embiid, to seal one of the best wins the team had all year. It was his version of the T.J. McConnell buzzer-beater over the Knicks: a player beloved by the sickest and most online Sixers fans single-handedly saving a victory for the team. You can see how excited Paul was the moment he made the play. Just pure joy.

Buddy Hield — Game 6 vs Knicks

I was wrong. Daryl Morey said he was wrong. Almost everybody was wrong about how Buddy Hield would fit with the Sixers. He’s an all-time great shooter, but whereas most shooters are easily portable to any situation and lineup, Hield needs to be a core tenet of the offense at all times. He needs plays and actions to be run for him possession after possessions so that he can get open, because he’s not big enough or quick enough on his own to do it in a neutral setting. It’s why he looked so good for a Pacers team that had him ghost screen for Tyrese Haliburton every second of the game, but struggled with a Sixers team that understandably had more static isolations and ball screens for Maxey and Embiid. Hield was bad through the first three games of the Knicks’ series, and Nick Nurse was right to bench him for Cam Payne.

But man, that first half of Game 6 was something else. A lot of things sparked the 43-18 run after the Sixers started out down 33-11, but chief among them was Buddy unloading the clip and getting on an unconscious heater from deep. Even if the trade didn’t work out, Sixers fans will remember what he did in that first half for a long, long time.

Cam Payne — Knicks Game 3

ENERGY. COSTS. NOTHING.

KJ Martin — Jokic Defense

KJ Martin was a perfectly acceptable player: tons of vertical pop, some interesting reps as a short roller and dunker spot finisher. But his shooting and scoring ability unfortunately lagged too far behind for him to ever be a consistent piece in the rotation when the team was healthy. There’s no real defining play he had at any point during this season.

However, he deserves praise for the work he did as a small-ball center for the most injured version of the hospital Sixers, playing defense on Nikola Jokic on national television, and doing a pretty good job as the Sixers nearly knocked off the defending champs on the road despite having neither Embiid nor Maxey. Not really a clippable moment to say, “Wow, look how KJ didn’t get totally mauled in the post here by Joker on these plays”, but impressive nonetheless.

Mo Bamba — 18 Points on Christmas

The Christmas day loss to the Miami Heat with no Joel and no Jimmy Butler was a real bummer. Maxey had his first actual bad game of the season, and after a 20-8 start, losing in that fashion on national TV was less than ideal.

However, it’s still hilarious that for as bad as Mo Bamba was at several points during this season, he was freaking hooping that day. The only thing more shocking than him dropping 18 points on one of the best defenses in the NBA is remembering that he actually started 17 different games for the Sixers this season.

Ricky Council IV — The Wizards Game

While I’m also partial to the explosive dunks of the man Kelly Oubre called C4, and his pass to Batum in overtime of that insane Spurs game will be remembered forever, I believe the peak Ricky Council IV moment was his coming-out party against the Washington Wizards. It was the game where both myself and plenty of other Sixers fans realized that Council wasn’t just a fun rookie on a two-way contract — it was this game where most of us realized he had legit NBA rotation player potential.

A 19-point double-double for an undrafted two-way player, which culminated in the most “THEY’RE TOO LITTLE!” offensive rebound and putback of all-time, is basically Process era fanfic for Sixers fans. Every day Philly fans gets to watch Ricky Council is a good day.

Robert Covington — “It’s Not the First Time.”

Obviously, this one is quite personal to me, more so than the others. The Sixers’ 146-101 win over the Wizards on December 11 was just the second game I ever covered for The Ricky, and the first where I actually asked questions at a postgame presser. RoCo’s first tenure with the Sixers coincided with my high school basketball career, the period of my life when I truly fell in love with the sport and decided that I wanted to make it my career in the future. Even if it was just a small part, watching Covington deflect passes and nail contested threes all those years grew my love for his amazing game, and is part of the reason I’m here now writing about it.

I just had to ask him a deflections question. I would not be a member of Sixers Twitter if I didn’t — and he gave the best answer possible:

Even in a season where he was sadly lost to injury, Robert Covington is now and forever a beloved Sixer.

Jeff Dowtin — 10 Points in His “Debut” Half (I Guess)

Hard to give one out for Dowtin given that his defining trait is his consistency and reliability. He’s one of the most normal Sixers players of the past decade, which is somehow both a good thing and a bad thing.

In his first real minutes with the Sixers this season, he dropped 10 points in the first half against the Grizzlies, which felt like a boon at the time given how depressing that specific portion of the season was. It’s not much, but it was still real Jeff Dowtin hours™.

Terquavion Smith — ”The Terqaway”

Terquavion was basically the anti-Jeff Dowtin (the funnier way to say it is that he’s Jeff Dowtin’s Wario): not super reliable, not super consistent, but fun as can be. Shoots threes like a maniac, makes wild plays, breaks down on defense at random. As for his best moment, the end-of-half pick-six against the Hawks that Sixers fans in my mentions dubbed “The Terqaway” is probably the singularly most eye-popping play he made.

Furkan Korkmaz — The Greatest Garbage Time Pass in NBA History

One of my favorite recurring bits during this entire Sixers season was Korkmaz checking into a game that was already over and throwing the sauciest pass you’ve ever seen, and none were better than the full-court hail mary he lobbed to Jaden Springer with the Wizards down by 40. A player that no Sixers fan will ever forget, and for good reason.

Pat Bev — 26 Points vs the Celtics

In a way that surprised absolutely no one, Pat Bev burned some bridges on his way out of Philly and has been in the news recently for a whole lot of bad reasons. Still, it’s worth remembering how well he played on a minimum contract in his brief stint with the Sixers. Though his defense is what most fans know him for, it was his underrated offense that emerged as an indispensable resource for the Sixers, and the peak was undoubtedly his tying a career-high of 26 points in Boston when he just narrowly missed out on leading the hospital Sixers to a win over the Celtics.

Marcus Morris Sr. — Four-point play vs the Rockets

It feels like there were four different Sixers seasons buried within this one, and there’s perhaps no better sign of that than remembering Marcus Morris. Being frustrated that he was getting minutes over Covington was for a moment one of the most pressing topics for Sixers fans this season, and now it feels like a distant memory.

Regardless, Morris played well for the Sixers — despite already being a good bit past his prime — and his four-point play to seal an Embiid-less win over the Rockets was a euphoric moment.

Danuel House Jr. — Getting Booed at Home for Not Passing the Ball to Joel

Listen, Danuel House Jr. is nothing if not a hilarious basketball player. Him getting booed by the Philly crowd for shooting the ball instead of giving it to Joel Embiid during the fourth quarter of his 70-point game, is truly one of the funniest things that has ever happened in an NBA game. Giving him over 500 minutes of playing time this season was worth it just for that singular moment.

Jaden Springer — First Half Clamps vs Luka

Even though he’s not getting any minutes for the Celtics, and there’s very good reason to believe the Sixers trading him for a second-round pick was a fair deal, I'll never stop believing in Springer.

Look at this defense, man. It’s inspirational.

Danny Green — Never Forget the 2021 Threes

Sadly, Danny Green didn’t get to do much at all for the Sixers this season before he was once again off the team. Still, a beloved Sixers player now and forever. Take this time to enjoy his trademark “Danny Green Cut” threes from the 2021 season.

P.J. Tucker — The Matching Salary

In the 66 minutes he played for the Sixers this season, P.J. Tucker attempted five total shots, and made two of them.

D.J. Wilson — 10 Points Against the Kings

Remember when Wilson scored 10 points on 4-for-6 shooting in the second half against the Kings during a random game in March? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

Kennth Lofton Jr., Filip Petrusev, and Javonte Smart — One Rebound, Two Points

Wishing all these guys the best of luck in the rest of their NBA careers. Lofton got the most actual playing time, Petrusev was included in the Harden trade, and Smart had by far the most encouraging preseason highlights. Thank you each for your service to the 2023-24 Philadelphia 76ers.

Darius Bazley — The Pass on the 2020 Mike Muscala Shot

I do not care that it happened in the 2020 NBA Bubble. This silver lining to this whole Sixers season was the superstar ascendance of Tyrese Maxey, and there is no Tyrese Maxey without the Mike Muscala shot.

Likewise, there is no Mike Muscala shot without the pass thrown by 2020 Darius Bazley. He can get an even more miniature statue under the small statue that is already being constructed for Moose.

Daniel Olinger is a writer for the Rights To Ricky Sanchez, and author of “The Danny” column, even though he refuses to be called that in person. He can be followed on X @dan_olinger.