Philadelphia 76ers

Team information

• Inaugural season: 1939 (as Syracuse Nationals)
• Home arena: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Owner: Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment
• Team colors: Blue, red, navy, silver, and white

Overview

The Philadelphia 76ers is a National Basketball Association (NBA) team that plays in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. Succeeding the now-defunct Syracuse Nationals, the 76ers took the court for the first time in 1963. Over the course of their history as both the Nationals and the 76ers, the franchise has won several NBA championships and earned numerous other accolades. By the 2019–2020 season, the 76ers amassed an all-time record that included 2,896 wins and 2,719 losses for a .516 overall win-loss percentage. Known for having a deeply committed fan base and traditionally being home to many of the game’s greatest players, the 76ers are widely recognized as one of the NBA’s most popular and competitive teams. The 76ers are also counted among the NBA’s most financially successful franchises, worth an estimated $2 billion in 2020.

In addition to their on-court play, the Philadelphia 76ers also maintain an active commitment to philanthropic endeavors. Much of this charitable work is carried out through the Sixers Youth Foundation and Project 76. The Sixers Youth Foundation seeks to utilize the power of basketball and the influence of the 76ers brand to help teach young Philadelphians about the importance of values like authenticity, passion, innovation, accountability, and grit and to help them become strong community leaders. Project 76 is a community service program through which members of the 76ers organization perform various volunteer service projects in communities across the Greater Philadelphia region. In addition to all this, the 76ers also sponsor the Wilt Chamberlin Memorial Fund, a scholarship program that helps students in need to get support they need to attend college.

History

The history of the Philadelphia 76ers began with the Syracuse Nationals. Founded in 1939, the Nationals were originally an independent team that was not affiliated with any existing professional basketball leagues. The Nationals remained independent until they joined the National Basketball League (NBL) in 1946. Three years later, the NBL merged with the Basketball Association of America (BAA) to form the NBA. In the early days of the NBA, the Nationals were one of the new league’s top teams. They even made an appearance in the inaugural NBA Finals, losing to the Minneapolis Lakers. The Nationals reached the height of their on-court success when they defeated the Fort Wayne Pistons in 1955 to win the first NBA championship in franchise history.

Although they consistently remained one of the NBA’s best teams, the Nationals were never financially stable. By the early 1960s, this financial instability left the franchise on the brink of collapse. When the Philadelphia Warriors—the NBA’s resident franchise in the City of Brotherly Love—left for San Francisco in 1962, the Nationals saw an opportunity to move to a larger market. With that, the Nationals relocated to Philadelphia and rebranded themselves as the 76ers.

The newly formed Philadelphia 76ers took the court for the first time in October 1963. Despite playing in a new city, the team continued the success it had in Syracuse. Much of that success was tied to the arrival of star center Wilt Chamberlin in 1964. With Chamberlin at the helm, the 76ers embarked on meteoric rise that culminated in a historic run in the 1966–1967 season. That year, the 76ers set a new NBA single-season record with 68 wins and only 13 losses. In the playoffs, the team breezed past the Cincinnati Royals and the Boston Celtics to meet the San Francisco Warriors in the NBA Finals. After a rocky start, the 76ers won the series in six games and claimed the second NBA championship in franchise history and their first in Philadelphia.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the 76ers entered a downward spiral that eventually led the team to miss the playoffs from 1972–1975. In 1976, the team improved its fortunes by acquiring star player Julius “Dr. J” Erving from the New York Nets of the American Basketball Association (ABA). With Erving’s help, the 76ers again became regular playoff contenders. The team’s rapid upturn in the late 1970s and early 1980s ultimately led to a berth in the 1982 NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers. Although the 76ers fell short in that series, they went right back to the finals the following year. Facing the Lakers once again, the 76ers this time emerged victorious and claimed another NBA championship.

By the early 1990s, the 76ers again found themselves in a decline and eventually entered a rebuilding period. For much of the decade, the team failed to make the playoffs and struggled to find any meaningful success. The situation improved dramatically in the early 2000s, however. In the 2000–2001 season, the 76ers finished as the top seed in the Eastern Conference and beat the Indiana Pacers, Toronto Raptors, and Milwaukee Bucks to win a trip to the NBA Finals. Once again facing the Los Angeles Lakers, the 76ers fell short of claiming another title.

As the 2000s wore on, the 76ers increasingly returned to mediocrity, missing the playoffs on several occasions and suffering quick eliminations in other years. One of the few bright spots of the period came in in the lockout-shortened 2011–2012 season, when the 76ers squeaked into the playoffs and scored an upset series victory over the heavily favored Chicago Bulls in the first round. After winning a playoff series for the first time in nine years, the team went on to lose to the Boston Celtics in the next round.

Starting in 2013, the 76ers embarked on an ambitious and controversial long-term rebuilding effort. Instead of trying to win immediately, the team focused on accumulating as many draft picks as possible for use in the future. While this strategy led the 76ers to become one of the NBA’s worst teams for a while, it eventually paved the way for many new young stars to come to Philadelphia. As a result, the 76ers were beginning to emerge as a contender again by the late 2010s and early 2020s.

Notable players

A number of former Philadelphia 76ers players have been inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts. Chief among the team’s honorees is the legendary Wilt Chamberlin. Often regarded as one of the greatest players in NBA history, Chamberlin won two league championships, scored 50 or more points over 118 times, and set the all-time record for rebounds at 23,924. During his four seasons with the 76ers, Chamberlin averaged 27.6 points per game. One of Chamberlin’s key teammates was future Hall of Famer Billy Cunningham. A power forward and small forward, Cunningham averaged 20.8 points per game during his nine seasons with the 76ers and was also an important part of the team’s 1967 NBA championship run. Small forward “Dr. J” Julius Erving was one of basketball’s biggest stars in the 1970s and 1980s, thrilling fans with his high-flying aerial mastery and popularizing the game as never before. In his eleven seasons with the 76ers, Erving averaged 22 points per game and led the team to its 1983 NBA championship. Erving’s right-hand man on the 1983 team was center and power forward Moses Malone. The first modern player to join the pros straight out of high school, Malone was an imposing figure on the basketball court who averaged 21 points per game in his five seasons with the 76ers. One of the most colorful figures on the 76ers roster in the 1980s and early 1990s, power forward and small forward Charles Barkley was a hardnosed player who accumulated more than 10,000 rebounds over the course of his career. During his eight seasons as a 76er, he averaged 23.3 points per game. Point guard and shooting guard Allen Iverson was the 76ers star player in the late 1990s and early 2000s. A lethal scorer, Iverson was named the NBA’s regular season MVP in 2001 and scored more than 24,000 career points. Despite his well-known lack of enthusiasm regarding practice, Iverson averaged 27.6 points per game during his twelve seasons with the 76ers. Other notable 76ers Hall of Famers include Hal Greer, Maurice Cheeks, and Bob McAdoo.

There have been many other notable Philadelphia 76ers as well. Between 1975 and 1982, center Darryl “Chocolate Thunder” Dawkins was one of the 76ers most electrifying players. Best known for shattering a pair of backboards with his powerful slam dunks in 1979, Dawkins was a key contributor who averaged 11.2 points per game during his seven seasons as a 76er. Though he played during one of the 76ers’ less successful eras, small forward and shooting guard Andre Iguodala was a defensive mastermind who appeared in an All-Star game and won a gold medal at the 2012 Olympics. In his eight seasons with the 76ers, Iguodala averaged 15.3 points per game. Drafted by the 76ers in 2014, towering center Joel Embiid emerged as the team’s top star when he finally took the court in 2016 after dealing with a nagging foot injury. In his first three seasons in Philadelphia, Embiid averaged 24.3 points per game and often entertained fans both on and off the court.

Bibliography

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“# 11 Philadelphia 76ers.” Forbes, February 2020, www.forbes.com/teams/philadelphia-76ers/#6bc795dc764f. Accessed 8 Apr. 2020.

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“Philadelphia 76ers.” Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, 2020, www.hoophall.com/hall-of-famers/query/?q=Philadelphia+76ers. Accessed 8 Apr. 2020.

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“Sixers Strong.” Philadelphia 76ers, 2020, www.nba.com/sixers/community/sixers-strong. Accessed 8 Apr. 2020.