October 27, 2026
Colleen Claggett/for PhillyVoice
Adem Bona has had a challenging start to his third NBA season.
Just one week into the season, the Sixers are desperately searching for answers as they try to piece together enough center minutes to get by. Joel Embiid's primary backup at this point is... 41-year-old LeBron James? Even the NBA's all-time leading scorer himself acknowledged that him sliding up to the five as often as he has already – even starting there in Sunday's loss to the Detroit Pistons – is not sustainable.
"I'm not here to have a sustainable role at the five," James said. "We have Joel Embiid on the team. I don't see it being a sustainable role, but it's a role that we know that we can tap into if we need it. I know I can play one through five, offensively and defensively, if needed. But, sustainable role playing the five, I don't think that's – if I were to say I was signed here to have a sustainable role at the five, I don't think any of us actually want that."
Unfortunately for the Sixers, nothing else head coach Nick Nurse has tried has proven to be all that desirable so far. Adem Bona's third NBA season has gotten off to a rocky start, Ariel Hukporti is out for the season, Dominick Barlow will miss more time with a back injury that has not gone away, Jabari Walker just suffered a knee injury, Tacko Fall has yet to return from a quad issue and Embiid remains liable to miss a game at any time.
This week's call for Sixers mailbag questions was met, almost exclusively, with questions about what the team's options are when it comes to the backup center spot. This one reply sums it up...
From @jmurz: Adam, would love to read an article laying out all the different paths to improve backup center and who could be targets for each path!
Ask and you shall receive!
Luckily for the Sixers, Embiid is in far better condition right now than he has been at this time in either of the last two seasons. Embiid sat for the second leg of the team's first back-to-back (despite his continued public pleas to play), but through four games that is the only time he has even been listed on an injury report. Embiid was on a 20-minute restriction early on last season; through three games in 2026-27 he has logged 34.3 minutes per game.
Behind him comes a whole lot of unreliability.
Of the other 16 Sixers on standard or two-way contracts, three are true centers: Hukporti, Bona and Fall. Bona is the only healthy member of that group; Nurse said over the weekend that Fall is nearing a return but it is very far from definite that he is playable at the NBA level; he may be more of a gimmick piece than anything, but whenever Fall is healthy the Sixers will have to give him a look by default.
Another four players can credibly play the five, even if they imperfect options: James, Barlow, Walker and Dean Wade. Barlow is without a timeline to return. Technically, so is Walker, his injury and designation ("left knee soreness") did not seem major. James is a 41-year-old very much aware of the rigors of the center position. Wade, who missed the first two games of the season with an ankle sprain, has never played more than 61 games in his seven NBA seasons.
MORE: From Embiid to his backups, takeaways from Sixers' first four games
The Sixers have an open standard roster spot. Why not just sign a center? That is where the salary cap comes in.
Because the Sixers used the non-taxpayer's mid-level exception (to sign Wade and Anfernee Simons), they are hard-capped at the first apron, a threshold they are currently about $1.8 million under. Unless they sign a player with zero NBA experience – such a player would have a hard time proving to be a solution at backup center – they do not have enough room to sign someone right now.
Should the Sixers pursue a prorated minimum contract, they could sign someone for the remainder of the season as early as the first week of December. But that option is flawed in every respect; it leaves the team impaired financially, it restricts their trade flexibility and it far from guarantees a player capable of making a difference.
Among the most recognizable free-agent bigs on the market:
• Kevin Love: The 38-year-old is a decorated teammate and his close relationship with LeBron James will keep him on the radar but there is little evidence he can perform at this stage of his career.
• Bismack Biyombo: Another respected veteran, Biyombo was with the San Antonio Spurs last season but rarely played.
• Mason Plumlee: Plumlee also rode the pine for the Spurs last season.
• Maxi Kleber: Unjuries have zapped his reliability; versatility was once Kleber's calling card but he is no longer the same player.
There is one obvious way the Sixers could enable themselves to sign one of these players (or any other with NBA experience) before December: waiving Walker, whose salary does not become guaranteed until January. But in addition to having potential long-term value as a young player, Walker has far more evidence supporting his own case to be the backup center in 2026 than any of the players listed above.
If the Sixers want to add an experienced NBA big immediately, they may have to pull off the rare early-season trade. It is far from inconceivable for two teams to strike a deal this time of year, but it is very rare; a significant portion of the league is not even eligible to be traded right now.
Hukporti, on the shelf for the year with a salary about $1 million over the veteran's minimum salary, may have become the likeliest player in the NBA to be dealt. But that cannot happen until Dec. 15 at the earliest, so his salary cannot provide the Sixers immediate relief at center; it may behoove the Sixers to wait out a Hukporti move and find a rotation upgrade closer to the trade deadline in February.
Which lower-level pieces on the roster can be traded? Walker, Barlow and Bona all can, but subtracting anyone capable of playing center is a major risk. Labaron Philon Jr. is trade-eligible, but moving a first-round pick early in his rookie season for a band-aid is not advisable or realistic.
That leaves one obvious option: Justin Edwards, the third-year wing whose development has buffered. Edwards may be 13th out of 13 when it comes to healthy players on the standard roster; Nurse playing Tyrese Maxey, Simons and Philon together on Sunday while Edwards was still awaiting his first rotation look of the year spoke volumes.
Edwards makes just over $2.4 million this season, so the Sixers could take back a salary in the neighborhood of $4 million in a deal that sends out the hometown product. The less money the Sixers add to their cap ledger the better; having wiggle room is especially important with an open roster spot eventually up for grabs.
Are there available bigs around the league? It might have been easier for the Sixers to acquire one before roster cutdowns, but it is not a totally barren market. One player stands out as the most logical option.
• Jericho Sims, Milwaukee Bucks: Sims is perhaps a more reliable version of Bona, even if his highs are not nearly as impactful and flashy. Sims has played two total minutes this season; swapping the 28-year-old big for a prospect like Edwards would be a favorable deal for the rebuilding Bucks. Would the Sixers give up long-term control of Edwards for a short-term upgrade of this level? It is difficult to envision Milwaukee adding an asset of any value to a deal like this.
Ultimately, the options are not plentiful. The field gets far less narrow on Dec. 15, when Hukporti and many free agents from last summer become trade-eligible.
MORE: The Sixers only have one ball. All of their stars are getting chances with it.
The Sixers have occasionally used two-way contracts to address their shortest-term needs in the past, particularly with centers. As of now, their three two-way contract spots are all filled, but teams can waive two-way players for new ones at any time up until March.
Of course, if a player is currently unsigned, eligible for a two-way contract and willing to sign one, it is hard to count on them moving the needle. But the Sixers may just need an innings-eater at some point, and there are plenty of bigs out there with somewhere from one to three years of NBA experience under their belts.
Waiving Fall for a more traditional and available center would be the most predictable decision. And it is worth noting again that there is not yet any indication that Fall is a safe bet to be playable on an NBA floor. Yes, he is 7-foot-6, and yes, he is well-liked in the locker room, but can he move quickly enough to keep up with the pace of the game that keeps escalating?
Clearly, the Sixers have legitimate belief in Fall being useful in some capacity. Does that mean they would consider dumping Caleb Love or Rayan Rupert? Both former Portland Trail Blazers are high-end two-way players, but does either have a remotely legitimate pathway to playing on this team?
Love may be a conversion candidate on another team; on this team he is behind Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, Simons, Philon and James in the ball-handling pecking order. If Edwards cannot sniff the rotation, it is much harder to imagine Rupert working his way into the mix at any point. Perhaps the Sixers would waive one of Love and Rupert, sign another two-way center to replace them and ease the pressure on Fall.
The easiest and likeliest choice is always to simply not perform any transactions and hope for better performance and health. Bona, Nurse has argued, is struggling at least in part as a result of his lack of preseason action. The arrival of James in particular can simplify things for Bona, but his continued unforced errors may put a severe cap on his overall production. Nurse acknowledged that Walker, whose standout preseason came almost entirely at center, was impressing him in a short stint there immediately before tweaking his knee. Barlow could be an impactful, switchable center upon returning. There is a chance everybody is overreacting to a bad four-game stretch.
Should Sixers President of Basketball Operations Mike Gansey execute one of the options detailed above in the near future, it will be evident that he did not think this situation was improving. But all of these hypothetical transactions are easier explained than performed.
MORE: Jaylen Brown takes shots at Jayson Tatum
