Daryl Morey’s Sixers tenure was unsuccessful but complicated

Daryl Morey’s six-year run as the 76ers’ president of basketball operations ended just 10 days after arguably the biggest accomplishment of his tenure, when Philadelphia rallied from a 3-1 series deficit to eliminate the rival Celtics.

It’s a fitting end to a strange chapter in Philadelphia’s long basketball history. But the fact that a first-round victory served as the peak helps explain why Morey’s out of a job.

An early pioneer in analytics-driven roster construction and the architect of perennial contenders in the second half of the 2010s, Morey couldn’t replicate that success in Philadelphia. When Ben Simmons crumbled for all the world to see in a second-round collapse during Morey’s first year in the role, Morey traded the former No. 1 overall pick for James Harden. When Harden, once Morey’s beloved franchise player in Houston, couldn’t help get Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey over the hump, the former Executive of the Year moved him for a package that included a future first-rounder and a first-round pick swap. That transaction came after Harden called Morey a liar and vowed never to play for him again.

Morey’s pivot away from Harden eventually led the Sixers to sign 34-year-old Paul George to a four-year maximum contract in the summer of 2024. George has appeared in only 78 games since then, averaging 16.7 points on below-average efficiency while generally playing some of the worst basketball of his decorated career.

Such rotten injury luck came to define Morey’s tenure. The trio of Embiid, George, and Maxey – a seemingly perfect combination of a star guard, wing, and big on paper – played just 43 games together over two years, with the Sixers posting a losing record in those contests. While Embiid’s failing health and George’s rapid decline after back-to-back All-Star campaigns in L.A. can’t be pinned on Morey, he understood the risks of handing max money to a 34-year-old and extending Embiid after he played just 39 games the season prior. Notably, Embiid’s $188-million extension hasn’t even kicked in yet.

Morey’s obsession with stars is understandable in the most superstar-driven sports league, but it’s also outdated. NBA teams will always need an elite talent or two to contend, but punitive tax and apron restrictions mean they can’t come at the expense of depth and balance anymore. Morey’s Sixers were often too many rotation players short.

Part of the problem was that for someone whose analytics background should’ve helped identify market inefficiencies and nail decisions along the margins, Morey failed in that regard. For example, the Sixers released sharpshooter Isaiah Joe in 2022, only for Joe to catch on with the Thunder and eventually become part of Oklahoma City’s championship rotation. Philly traded Jared McCain to the Thunder ahead of this year’s deadline, with Morey infamously saying that Philly sold high on the former 16th overall pick. Sixers fans have since watched the 22-year-old become a key member of OKC’s title defense this spring.

Given that Philly received a first-round pick and three second-rounders for the then-struggling McCain, Morey’s assertion might yet prove correct. Still, the arrogance of that statement rubbed many the wrong way, as did his 2025 admission that his front office was using artificial intelligence in its decision-making process (even if other teams are surely following suit).

Morey deserves his share of the blame, and perhaps his termination was justified. Yet it’s fair to wonder: Would his Sixers teams have remained so thin and fragile if ownership had been more willing to pay the luxury tax? Would Morey have given up on McCain so quickly and opted against solidifying a surprisingly solid team this season if ducking the tax wasn’t an objective? Is head coach Nick Nurse’s job secure because Josh Harris and David Blitzer believe in him, or because they don’t want to pay him while a new executive’s handpicked bench boss runs things?

Whoever Harris, Blitzer, and Bob Meyers task with picking up the pieces, the new exec will still have to deal with those same constraints. Maxey, rookie standout V.J. Edgecombe (who Morey drafted one spot ahead of Kon Knueppel), and at least one first-rounder every year is a decent starting point. The albatross contracts of George and Embiid are not.

Again, Morey’s tenure was complicated. That doesn’t mean he deserved a seventh season on the job, but don’t expect his replacement to cure all of Philly’s ills.

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