35 things to know about the East teams standing in the way of the Sixers and the NBA Finals

There have been eight different NBA champions over the last eight seasons, an unprecedented run of parody for a league used to dynasties.

Before the Sixers can start thinking about a championship parade, they need to win the Eastern Conference. (Actually, they need to make the playoffs first. Heaven help Mike Gansey and Nick Nurse if that doesn’t happen.)

There appear to be seven legitimate contenders in the East — and possibly an eighth if the Pacers meet their own lofty expectations.

Here are 35 things to know about the teams standing in the Sixers’ way.

1. Things could be a little awkward after the Knicks did not reach contract extensions with stars Karl-Anthony Towns and Josh Hart and tabled negotiations to focus on “preparing for the upcoming season.” Towns, who will be 31 next month, has a player option for 2027-28, so he could walk after this season.

2. Hart also has two years left on his deal, but 2027-28 is a team option.

3. The Sixers, including last year’s sweep by the Knicks in the second round, have lost six in a row to New York, and 10 of 12 dating back to the start of the 2024-25 season.

4. The Knicks snapped a championship drought that lasted more than half a century, and now look to be the first team to repeat since the Warriors in 2018. The last Eastern Conference team to repeat was LeBron James’ Miami Heat squad in 2013.

» READ MORE: ‘Sixers Extra’ season preview: What to expect from LeBron James and his new team this year

5. How about a little trivia? When the Sixers open in New York on Tuesday , three of the nine active players to win an NBA Finals MVP will be on the court. Name these nine players. Hint: five play for teams in the Eastern Conference. Answer below.

6. LeBron’s teams are 48-19 all-time against the Knicks. In his only game against New York last year, he had 22 points, five rebounds, and six assists but was a minus-17 in a Lakers loss.

7. The Celtics were 26-14 against the Knicks during Jaylen Brown’s career in Boston, which included a loss to New York in six games in the 2025 East semifinals.

8. The Knicks lost backup center Mitchell Robinson to the Celtics and replaced him with former Sixer Andre Drummond. This will be Drummond’s seventh team in his 15-year career.

9. New York also lost reserve center Ariel Hukporti to the Sixers. But Hukporti ruptured his right Achilles in the first preseason game (coincidentally, against the Knicks) and is out for the season.

10. Boston’s acquisition of Robinson followed last season’s playoff loss to the Sixers when they often couldn’t stop Joel Embiid, who averaged 28 points in four games, and had 34 points in Game 7.

11. The Celtics will use a rotation of Robinson, Neemias Queta and Luka Garza with rookie Chris Cenac Jr., the 23rd overall pick from Houston, at the end of the bench. Queta has dubbed the team’s big men “Big Fella University.” Cute, but “Stoutland U” is better.

12. Paul George, the key piece that went to Boston in the Brown trade, missed more regular-season games with the Sixers (86) than he played (78). George, 36, has failed to play at least 60 games in six of the last seven seasons.

» READ MORE: Paul George still feels ‘brotherhood’ with former Sixers teammates after trade to Celtics

13. When Celtics star Jayson Tatum was 11 years old, he tried unsuccessfully to get LeBron’s autograph one night in Memphis. Afterward, “I got in the car and started crying,” Tatum recalled two summers ago before he and LeBron helped Team USA win gold at the 2024 Olympics. Embiid also played on that team.

14. The Celtics are trying to become the first team to win the Atlantic Division six years in a row. Boston allowed 107.2 points per game in 2025-26. The Sixers were 19th at 116.1.

15. Notable championship droughts ended over the last eight seasons: Toronto in 2019 (23 seasons), Milwaukee in 2021 (49 seasons), Denver in 2023 (47 seasons), Oklahoma City (45 seasons), New York in 2026 (52 seasons). The Sixers have played 43 seasons since their last title in 1982-83.

16. When LeBron famously (or infamously, depending on your view) made “The Decision” to let the world know where he was signing during the summer of 2010, Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell was 13 years old and among the kids in attendance at the Greenwich (Conn.) Boys & Girls Club.

17. Mitchell told Yahoo Sports in 2018 that he personally was happy James was going to Miami to pursue a championship ring, but most people in or near the made-for-ESPN event were irate Knicks fans. “I almost got hit in the head with a Snapple bottle,” he told Yahoo.

18. James Harden, who was acquired by the Cavaliers in February and signed a three-year extension in August, has played three games in Philadelphia since his time as a Sixer ended bitterly after the 2022-23 season. All three were with the Clippers (two wins), but Harden shot just 17-for-50 in those games. As an opponent, Harden’s teams are 10-4 in games played here.

19. Kawhi Leonard, who last played for an Eastern Conference team in 2018-19 (perhaps you remember his shot in Game 7 against the Sixers that year), has rejoined the Toronto Raptors after seven seasons with the Clippers. Leonard, 35, played in 65 games last season and averaged a career-high 27.9 points.

20. The Clippers didn’t win a playoff series the last five years and, to make things worse, were hit with extreme penalties ($30 million fine, loss of five draft picks) by the NBA for salary cap violations involving Leonard. Toronto plays at the Clippers on Nov. 2, by the way. Be curious if there’s any (ahem) load management for Leonard that night.

21. Projected win totals for the top Eastern Conference teams, according to BetMGM: Knicks, 52.5; Celtics, 51.5; Sixers, 50.5; Cavaliers, 47.5; Raptors, 46.5; Heat, 46.5; Pacers/Hawks/Magic, 43.5.

22. The Heat plucked Giannis Antetokounmpo from Milwaukee in a massive deal just before the draft. A period of transition is always expected, but there’s one thing Antetokounmpo didn’t count on when he arrived in South Florida: the local lizards. “If the iguanas keep on coming, I’ll probably move [out of his mansion],” said the 6-foot-11, 243-pound Greek Freak. “Maybe get an apartment, so there won’t be no pools, no grass, none of that stuff.”

23. Miami’s revamped roster also includes Klay Thompson, Bobby Portis, and Tim Hardaway Jr. They gave up Tyler Herro, Jaime Jaquez and Kel’el Ware in the Giannis deal and lost leading-scorer Norman Powell in free agency to Chicago.

24. The Heat, fourth in the Southeast last year and overtime losers as the 10-seed in the play-in round to Charlotte, are favored to win the Division.

25. Opening-day ages of the Miami’s expected rotation: Thompson (35), Davion Mitchell (28), Andrew Wiggins (30), Antetokounmpo (31), Bam Adebayo (29), Portis (31), Hardaway (34), Pelle Larsson (25).

26. Answer to No. 5: The nine active players who have been named NBA Finals MVP are LeBron, Brown, Jalen Brunson, Giannis, Leonard, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Jokic, Steph Curry, and Kevin Durant.

» READ MORE: LeBron James’ commute has drawn attention. Here’s what we know about the 76ers star’s helicopter trips from New York.

27. Jalen Duren’s dismal playoff performance may have cost him $87 million. The former Roman Catholic star center was not offered a max contract of $287 million and instead settled for five years, $200 million just hours before he would have had to accept a one-year deal for $9.6 million and would have been an unrestricted free agent after this season.

28. Duren, who turns 23 next month, busted out during the regular season with 19.5 points, 10.5 rebounds, and his first All-Star and All-NBA selections. He sunk to 10.2 points per game in the postseason as the top-seeded Pistons were bounced in the second round by Cleveland.

29. The Pistons won all four games against the Sixers last year by margins of 3, 9, 22, and 23 points. They’ll play three times this season with the first meeting on Sunday night in South Philly.

30. The Sixers’ home opener is Oct. 22 against Cleveland, which also won all four meetings against the Sixers last year. The Sixers starting lineup in the final meeting — on March 9 — was Quentin Grimes, Cameron Payne, Adem Bona, Dominick Barlow, and Kelly Oubre Jr. Only Barlow and Bona are on this season’s roster.

31. Oubre is in Indiana, which at the very least ought to improve on last year’s injury-riddled 19-63 season. The Pacers’ prop is 43.5 wins, a hefty bump fueled by the return of star Tyrese Haliburton from a torn Achilles tendon he suffered in Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals against Oklahoma City. Please note that the NBA does not have an award for Comeback Player of the Year.

32. “I am 100%. There will be no restrictions,” Haliburton said. “That is not news. There is no source. I am the source. I’m good. I’m ready to go for the year.”

33. The Pacers also will have center Ivica Zubac healthy. He played only five games for Indiana after being acquired in February from the Clippers. Zubac has 15-point, 10-rebound potential.

34. In addition to Bennedict Mathurin (17.8 ppg), the Zubac deal also cost the Pacers the No. 5 overall pick, which the Clippers used on Illinois guard Keaton Wagler. But it’s a deal that Indiana GM Chris Buchanan would do again.

35. “We were on the cusp of being a championship team [in 2024-25]. Why would we be patient and wait for something else down the road?” Buchanan said last month. “Why should we be thinking long term? It’s right there in front of us.”

The Sixers’ schedule against the top teams in the Eastern Conference:

Sixers vs. Knicks

Sixers vs. Celtics

Sixers vs. Cavaliers

Sixers vs. Raptors

Sixers vs. Pistons

Sixers vs. Heat

Sixers vs. Pacers

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