Sixers are losing ground as the Celtics and Bucks get stronger

One has to wonder whether the 76ers’ NBA championship window has closed.

With reigning MVP Joel Embiid and rising star Tyrese Maxey, the Sixers are supposed to be one of the league’s elite teams. One would expect the duo to answer questions about the team’s level of excitement during media day on Monday.

Instead, the Sixers are set to be bombarded with questions about James Harden’s uncertain future with the team.

They’ll probably give mostly positive responses whether Harden, who wants out, reports Monday or not. The Sixers were not sure whether Harden would attend media day or this week’s training camp at Colorado State. The players will tell you they experienced this two seasons ago when Ben Simmons missed media day and held out at the start of training camp.

They may voice their admiration for Harden and say this is part of the business. The Sixers still expect to compete against the Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics for Eastern Conference supremacy.

One problem: The Bucks added future Hall of Famer Damian Lillard from the Portland Trail Blazers. On Sunday, the Celtics added Jrue Holiday, a two-time All-Star and five-time All-Defensive selection, in a trade with the Blazers. The Sixers’ most notable offseason happening involved Harden calling team president of basketball operations Daryl Morey “a liar.” Doubling down, there was a “Daryl Morey is a liar” sign at Harden’s party last week.

So the Sixers head into the season with dysfunction while the Bucks and Celtics have revamped rosters. And one has to wonder how the inability to upgrade the roster will impact Embiid’s desire to remain a Sixer.

The eighth-year veteran is in the first season of a four-year, $213.2 million contract extension. Asked in July at a promotional appearance with businessman Maverick Carter what we can expect from him, Embiid responded, “I just want to win a championship … whether it’s Philly or anywhere else.”

He and the Sixers tried to downplay those comments. But after the Celtics landed Holiday on Sunday, Embiid tweeted, “This offseason was fun ...”

That drew more than 1,738 replies in the first hour. One person said, “Request a trade.” Another comment read, “It’s been real brother” followed by “see you later” and crying emojis.

» READ MORE: James Harden believes Sixers relationship is beyond repair

The Sixers acquired Harden in February 2022 from the Brooklyn Nets to form an All-NBA tandem with Embiid. The hope was that he would help catapult the team into an NBA Finals appearance. Now, two postseason appearances later, the team still has a second-round ceiling.

Added to that, Harden is upset because Morey didn’t trade him to the Los Angeles Clippers this summer. The problem is that the Sixers want an All-Star player or assets that will enable them to acquire one in return. At age 34, with a $35.6 million salary, and perhaps an unrealistic self-evaluation, Harden doesn’t have a lot of trade value.

In addition, the Sixers were relatively silent in free agency.

Their most notable offseason moves were matching the Utah Jazz’s three-year, $23.5 million offer to restricted free agent Paul Reed and signing Kelly Oubre Jr. to a $2.8 million, one-year veteran minimum deal.

Sixers coach Nick Nurse is excited about Reed’s versatility. He was Embiid’s backup last season. He’ll also see some time at power forward.

Meanwhile, Oubre is coming off a career-high 20.3 points last season with the Charlotte Hornets. However, the reserve small forward didn’t garner a lot of free-agency attention, leading to his recently settling for a below-value deal with the Sixers.

But the Bucks and Celtics made blockbuster moves.

» READ MORE: More offseason drama: James Harden joins the list of unhappy Sixers through the years

On Wednesday, Milwaukee became the overwhelming favorite to win an NBA title.

That’s when Milwaukee agreed to acquire Lillard from the Trail Blazers in a three-team deal that included the Phoenix Suns. In Lillard, the Bucks get a bona-fide closer to pair with two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and three-time All-Star Kris Middleton. In the deal, the Blazers received Holiday from Milwaukee and Deandre Ayton and Toumani Camara from the Suns. Those players were packaged with the Bucks’ 2029 first-round pick along with draft swap rights in 2028 and 2030. The Suns received Grayson Allen from the Bucks and Jusuf Nurkić, Nassir Little, and Keon Johnson from Portland.

However, Portland made it known that it would trade Holiday to another team in exchange for young players and draft picks. The Sixers were among the teams trying to make a deal for the two-time All-Star, who began his career in Philadelphia.

But the Celtics acquired him in exchange for Robert Williams, Malcolm Brogdon, the 2024 Golden State Warriors first-round pick, and Boston’s 2029 unprotected first-rounder.

With Holiday, the Celtics might have overtaken the Bucks as the favorites to win the NBA title.

Not only is Holiday a solid defensive matchup against Lillard; he fits well with Boston’s core players in All-NBA wings Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. He’s viewed as a better fit than Marcus Smart, whom Boston dealt to the Memphis Grizzlies in this summer’s three-team trade. That trade enabled the Celtics to land Kristaps Porziņģis from the Washington Wizards.

Boston is expected to sign Holiday to a long-term deal next summer. And the Bucks acquired Lillard, in part, to make sure Antetokounmpo remains with the franchise long-term. Meanwhile, there’s a lot of uncertainty surrounding the Sixers roster.

Embiid, P.J. Tucker, Paul Reed, Jaden Springer, and Filip Petrusev are the only Sixers with standard NBA contracts that go beyond this season. The Sixers intend to have enough salary-cap space available next summer to sign Maxey and an A-list free agent to lucrative contracts.

But there’s no guarantee they’ll get an A-list free agent. Nor is there a guarantee that Embiid, 29, would want to stick around, especially if this season is a struggle. Sure, the Sixers are banking on having a bright future. They’ve been banking on the future for some time.

The problem is that Embiid’s in his prime now.

Yet, the two-time scoring champion sees the Celtics and Bucks making major moves while he’s dealing with his second disgruntled costar in three seasons. And unless things drastically change this season, the Sixers will, once again, have a second-round ceiling.

That leads to the belief that their championship window has closed ... unless Morey can make a major move.