Due to a quirk in the NBA's schedule plans, the Philadelphia 76ers, the team most fans expect to win the East based on talent alone, and the Indiana Pacers, a dark horse option for those more interested in roster fit than 2K ratings, will have all of their matchups over the course of a three week span at the start of the season.
It's hard to overstate how disappointing this is. Good teams playing against good teams is always a pleasure, but it matters far more later in the season, when seeding battles become questions of head-to-head matchups and half-games.
It's especially irritating, however, because neither team will be at full strength by the time that final matchup on November 27th rolls around.
Both the Sixers and the Pacers will have a pretty extreme ramp-up period as they learn or re-learn their team's situations and fits. The Sixers are incorporating two new starters with massive usage rates and a handful of rotation pieces with not insignificant roles.
Too many mouths to feed, too many points to score
Between LeBron James and Jaylen Brown, Philly has two players with over a 30% usage rate to downsize alongside their former MVP-winning center, Joel Embiid, and their two star guards in VJ Edgecombe and Tyrese Maxey.
The most likely situation is Embiid becoming more of a spot-up shooter and rim protector, deferring to the others in hopes of keeping him healthy all year long. Edgecombe and Brown will also have take a backseat, as LeBron and Maxey are the two players on that roster with the best hopes of maximizing the others.
The Pacers, for their part, are returning from an injury filled 2025-26 that went from bad to worse when Indiana went from losing Tyrese Haliburton to a torn Achilles tendon to seeing their starting small forward play 45 games, their power forward play hurt, and their star center acquisition suit up for only five games.
While Indiana doesn't have the number of names they need to find room for, they certainly do have two massive question marks.
First, there's the aforementioned Haliburton. He is the engine that makes this team run. If he is not 100%, this team, and with it, this era of Pacers basketball, is over. Indiana will need to balance easing him back into organized basketball and pushing him to regain the level they need him to reach.
It's hard to ask that much of Tyrese, considering just how long it's been since he last played. We are currently around six weeks away from the start of the NBA season. It has been over ten times as much time since Haliburton last saw the court.
As if bringing back their star orchestrator wasn't enough, the Pacers also need to figure out how to maximize Ivica Zubac. The Croatian center was acquired from the Los Angeles Clippers in a move that just continues to get sweeter and sweeter for Indiana.
While Zubac is by far the best center to be moved in the past 12 months, his fit with the fast-flowing Pacers is questionable at times. That means Indiana will have to add more pick-and-roll and post-up possessions to appease him. Can they do that without losing their identity?
The unfortunate news is that the answer won't be found by late November. Instead of seeing two of the best teams in the East face each other at their best, we'll just be seeing them face off while they try to answer questions that take time.
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