The five biggest challenges the next Sixers lead front-office executive will face

The 76ers have officially begun an offseason of change, parting ways with president of basketball operations Daryl Morey Tuesday night.

Morey, one of the NBA’s more prominent executives, led the Sixers for six seasons. His tenure aligned with Joel Embiid becoming the 2023 NBA Most Valuable Player — and his numerous injury struggles — along with Tyrese Maxey’s ascension into a two-time All-Star and the drafting of rookie standout VJ Edgecombe. But the Sixers never advanced past the playoffs’ second round, and the hefty contracts of Embiid and Paul George remain on the books for multiple seasons.

» READ MORE: MURPHY: Daryl Morey was the right man for the job, but the job has changed for the Sixers

We will learn more about what the Sixers are looking for in their next lead executive on Thursday. A press conference will be held with owner Josh Harris and Bob Myers, the president of Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment and the former president of basketball operations during the Golden State Warriors’ dynasty who will lead the Sixers’ search.

Here are five initial challenges the next person in that job will face:

The Sixers appear to be locked into their top-heavy roster, with Embiid and George as their highest-paid players on two of the NBA’s worst contracts. Though the new leader could theoretically explore trade possibilities for either deal — Embiid is owed almost $193 million over the next three seasons, while George is owed more than $110.7 million over the next two, including a player option for 2027-28 — they are viewed as difficult to move because of both players’ age and availability issues in recent seasons.

That makes it challenging to concoct sweeping roster changes unless they involve Maxey or Edgecombe, who are appropriately viewed as the franchise’s future (and present).

Hunting and accumulating stars has long been Morey’s philosophy, dating back to his sustained success with the Houston Rockets. But the NBA’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement has changed that landscape, with “apron” penalties and trade restrictions on high-spending teams. That also makes it imperative that this new executive nails the complementary moves to fill out a roster that had its depth exposed during the playoffs.

Morey did make some shrewd moves in this regard, including trading for Quentin Grimes at last year’s deadline, signing Kelly Oubre Jr. to a veteran’s minimum deal in 2023, and signing rotation regulars Dominick Barlow and Jabari Walker to two-way contracts that were eventually converted to standard deals. But it was not enough, as coach Nick Nurse rarely trusted more than six players in the thick of this season’s playoffs.

Assuming a hire is in place within the next six weeks, their first significant roster-shaping opportunities will come via the draft and free agency.

The Sixers have the 22nd overall pick, which they acquired as part of the unpopular Jared McCain trade. Picking in that slot can have wide-ranging results. The most optimistic will remind that Maxey was drafted 21st in 2020. Players that went 22nd in recent drafts include Drake Powell, DaRon Holmes, Dariq Whitehead, Walker Kessler, and Isaiah Jackson.

The Sixers’ unrestricted free agents are Grimes, Oubre, and center Andre Drummond. How much interest would a new front-office head have in retaining any or all of these players? And how much could a new face in charge alter how any of those players feel about re-upping with the Sixers? Grimes perhaps would be the most interesting case study here, after a messy restricted free agency last summer resulted in him taking his one-year qualifying offer for 2025-26.

Additionally, the Sixers have a collection of future draft picks, several acquired in past trades, that could be assets in deals.

The overall goal for the Sixers’ lead executive could be described as winning at a high level, while still staying under the luxury tax.

It is a philosophy so well-known in-house that Embiid publicly called it out entering this season’s the trade deadline, before the Sixers dealt McCain. And that financial strategy is part of the reason why a group of young former Sixers — McCain, Paul Reed, Isaiah Joe, and Julian Champagnie — are contributing to teams still in the playoffs.

» READ MORE: The Sixers had an improved regular season and an up-and-down playoff run. Now, an interesting offseason awaits.

One could argue that, during the entirety of Morey’s tenure, only the Denver Nuggets better toggled this line among teams with similar expectations. The massive difference: The Nuggets did reach the mountaintop by winning the 2023 NBA title. This season, seven of 30 NBA teams were over the tax line, a group that does not include the defending champion (and 2026 title favorite) Thunder.

But it will again be up to the new leader to strike that balance between assembling a roster that can create immediate and sustained on-court success, while operating under the constraints put in place by ownership.

This is no specific knock against Nurse, whom The Inquirer confirmed will return for a fourth season in 2025-26.

But typically the opposite order of events occurs, with the front office leader choosing their preferred coach. The same scenario did unfold for the Sixers in 2020, when then-coach Doc Rivers was hired before Morey. They lasted three seasons together, before Morey fired Rivers and hired Nurse.

This process makes it crucial that Nurse and the new executive are on the same page as far as roster-building plan and playing style, and are set up for strong day-to-day collaboration. This setup could inherently put even more pressure entering 2026-27 on Nurse, who some outsiders believed also was on the hot seat entering the season and playoffs.

The new front-office lead will join a Sixers organization that, at best, has an “it’s always something” reputation.

That goes beyond the second-round road block that every notable figure — from Embiid, to coaches, to executives — has faced since 2001. The franchise perception starts at the top with Harris, for a multitude of basketball and non-basketball reasons.

It is reasonable to conclude that whoever slides into this high-level executive role boasts a combination of past success and confidence to believe they are the one to spark the turnaround and lead the organization into a championship-contending future.

But the Sixers’ two most recent coaches have won an NBA title, and their most recent lead executive was on the cutting edge of the sports analytics movement and created a consistent winner at his previous stop. They have all wound up, in the best-case scenario, in the exact same place as their predecessors and, in the worse-case scenario, fired.