The Philadelphia 76ers kicked off the 2026-27 NBA season with back-to-back wins over the two teams that played in the Eastern Conference finals last season in the New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers. It was a pretty auspicious start for a Sixers team that entered the season with lofty expectations.
Head coach Nick Nurse deserves credit for helping the new-look Sixers coalesce quickly, but he's always employed a troubling trend early in the season by embracing one of his worst habits as a head coach.
Nick Nurse playing his 76ers starters heavy minutes early could cause issues later
Nurse is known for leaning on his starters heavily, perhaps too heavily, and he's done just that thus far this season for Philadelphia. That isn't inherently a bad thing, and it makes sense in certain situations, namely in the postseason.
But, success for the Sixers hinges on several players who have a ton of miles on their respective tires, and in the case of star center Joel Embiid, an extensive injury history. So, it will be important not to overtax them, especially early in the season.
Conserving his well-worn stars didn't seem to be at the forefront of Nurse's mind at the beginning of the season, though. He employed a nine-man rotation during Philadelphia's first two games, but it was really an eight-man rotation when you factor in that Jabari Walker played under four minutes in both games.
Such a shallow rotation automatically increases the minute load of the starters. Tyrese Maxey played 40-plus minutes in both games, while Joel Embiid and LeBron James have both averaged 33.5 minutes per performance. While those numbers aren't especially egregious, they also aren't ideal. Ideally, Maxey would be under 40, and Embiid and James would be around 30.
Why 76ers' rotations may change soon
In fairness to Nurse, Dean Wade and Dominick Barlow have both been sidelined to start the season due to injury issues, and both guys figure to play prominently into the rotation in the frontcourt when they're available. So assumedly, when Nurse has both of those guys at his disposal, it will allow him to cut back the minutes for James, Embiid and even Jaylen Brown, who's averaging a career-high 36.5 minutes per game so far this season.
Plus, there's something to be said about building confidence in your depth pieces early in the season. The team will need those guys to step in at certain points during the season, so getting them some early reps can be beneficial.
Nurse will likely be forced to rely on bit more on his frontcourt depth over Philadelphia's next two games, as the Sixers are set to host a back-to-back against the Milwaukee Bucks and Detroit Pistons this weekend.
Embiid and James are both likely to play in only one of those two games, so there will be some extra frontcourt minutes that need to be filled. Perhaps Walker will see an uptick in time, and maybe Justin Edwards will even make his season debut. If Wade is available, he'll certainly see his fair share of minutes.
Regardless of who else plays, an eight-man rotation simply isn't sustainable moving forward for Philly, so it will be interesting to see how Nurse decides to open the rotation up a bit. He has the tough task to balance playing his stars enough to make sure that the team has firm footing in the playoff picture, while also trying to keep them as healthy as possible for the lang haul.
So far, Nurse has leaned a bit too heavily on his starters, which was understandable given the circumstances. But, he'll need to dial it back a bit moving forward.
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