Barely acquainted with the assembled media covering the postmortem of the 2025-26 Philadelphia 76ers, Bob Myers was peppered Thursday with questions about how to take a franchise mired in early playoff exits to championship-level greatness.
Back in October, Myers left his role as an NBA Analyst at ESPN to join Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment as its president of sports. Josh Harris and David Blitzer called upon the accomplished NBA executive to help further the company’s portfolio of teams, including the Sixers.
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Myers is best known for constructing Golden State Warriors rosters that delivered the league’s latest dynasty, a four-championship run from 2015-22 that featured Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, who were temporarily joined by Kevin Durant.
While Myers’ days as a general manager and president of basketball operations seem to be in the rear-view mirror, he’s now tasked with finding the next leader of the Sixers’ basketball operations. He’s in charge of the department until Daryl Morey’s replacement is hired. The Sixers parted ways with Morey after the New York Knicks swept them in the Eastern Conference semifinals, yet another premature departure from the postseason for a franchise that hasn’t been to the Eastern Conference finals since Allen Iverson led it to the NBA Finals in 2000-01.
On Thursday, Myers was asked a bevy of questions, chief among them one about an NBA adage that it’s easier to go from bad to good — a hurdle the Sixers cleared during “The Process” — than it is to go from good to great, a status Philadelphia so desperately wants to achieve on the hardwood. So what is it going to take to get there?
“I believe that adage,” Myers said. “Because when you’re bad, you can try anything, and if it doesn’t work, you’re still bad. But if you’re good, you have to risk something to go to great. … You risk making a mistake and falling back to bad.”
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He added: “It’s a hard look at everything. It’s a hard look at whoever we hire, and we’ll place it on them. It’s a hard look at what I’ve experienced and what I know that makes a championship team. But it’s also a question to our players: ‘Do you want to get uncomfortable?’ Because it takes a great level of uncomfortability to win a championship.”
Myers discussed what he’s looking for in Morey’s replacement. Both he and Harris were pressed about the controversial deadline deal that sent Jared McCain to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Harris was asked point-blank about his perceived aversion to dipping into the luxury tax as well as Knicks fans’ takeover at Xfinity Mobile Arena last week. They fielded questions about how injury-plagued center Joel Embiid and head coach Nick Nurse fit into their plans, too — all in a 30-plus-minute news conference that encompassed a pivotal offseason facing the Sixers.
Philadelphia 76ers Managing Partner Josh Harris, left, and Bob Myers, President of Sports for Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, take part in a news conference at the NBA basketball team’s practice facility in Camden, N.J., Thursday, May 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
(AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Sixers would like to hire next president of basketball operations before draft but won’t rush that process
Myers said, ideally, Philadelphia will have a new president of basketball operations before the NBA Draft, which takes place on June 23-24, but, in his words, “if it hasn’t happened, that’s OK, too.”
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He explained that the Sixers will take as much time as they need to find the right person. Myers was asked if former two-time All-Star big man Elton Brand — who has held role of GM for the franchise since the fall of 2018 — will be considered for the vacancy left by Morey. Myers was non-committal on the subject, noting that he’s spoken to Brand but not in detail about the opening yet.
More generally, Myers outlined what he’s looking for in the Sixers’ new president of basketball operations.
“I’m a big believer in character and leadership,” he said. “I’m looking for a person that embodies those things, but there’s many characteristics under that that I believe kind of qualify in making a modern GM a success.
“There’s front-facing responsibilities, there’s responsibilities of managing star players, there’s responsibilities of managing up to ownership. There’s contract negotiations, there’s draft process, there’s evaluating analytics, there’s medical staff — you go down the line, and these jobs have an enormity to them. So I’m looking to find someone that can check as many of those boxes as possible but also raise their hand and say, ‘You know what? I’m actually not good in this space. I’m going to need some support.’
“Because the misnomer about these jobs is … I had some success in my previous job, but it wasn’t me by myself. There are teams of people that make a team and an organization successful.”
Harris says ownership approved McCain trade; Myers: ‘We should be graded on the ultimate result of transactions like that’
Ahead of this year’s trade deadline, Philadelphia infamously shipped off McCain to the defending NBA champion Thunder. In exchange, the Sixers received a 2026 Houston Rockets first-round pick and three second-round picks.
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Morey later admitted that they made that trade in hopes of striking an additional deal at the deadline, but “nothing materialized,” he said. That trade was criticized in the moment for a variety of reasons, and it wound up especially backfiring in the postseason. McCain, who was an early NBA Rookie of the Year candidate with the Sixers last season before suffering a lateral meniscus tear in his left knee, has thrived with OKC in the playoffs. During the Thunder’s sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference semifinals, McCain scored in double figures three times. Despite posting just 14.8 minutes per contest in the series, he averaged three 3s a game versus the Lakers while shooting a blistering 63.2% from beyond the arc.
Meanwhile, Philadelphia struggled to get scoring from its bench in the playoffs, particularly against the Knicks, and scrounged for 3-point marksmanship, across the board. Harris said Thursday that ownership and Myers approved the McCain trade after receiving a front-office recommendation. Myers was asked for his evaluation of that deal.
“I like Daryl,” he said. “I’m not going to disparage Daryl here today. I think he did a fine job, and I think he’s a good person. … What I will tell you is that was a few months ago. Right now we have the 22nd pick. Our job is to get that right.
“We have three second-round picks from it. … We should be graded on the ultimate result of transactions like that. But I understand. I made draft picks where we got an ‘F’ right away, 10 minutes after the draft. F! And I was like, ‘How do they know it’s an F? I mean, the guy hasn’t even played.’”
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Myers continued, addressing the reporter who inquired: “But your job and everybody’s job is to react. I totally understand that. Our job is to make a trade. There’ll be a reaction, it’ll be positive or negative, but that trade isn’t done. And our job is to make sure that on our end of the trade, we do a good job with drafting the best player at 22.”
Harris insists front office has green light to pay luxury tax
In addition to the blowback the Sixers got from trading away a 22-year-old McCain, they also received flak for ducking the tax. That naturally led to questions about the franchise’s willingness to spend for a championship-caliber roster with Harris as an owner.
Harris has been under siege from Philadelphia fans who are disgruntled by the team’s inactivity at the deadline, considering there seemed to be an opportunity to improve the roster in a season where the East appeared even more open than it normally is.
Harris was asked on Thursday if staying under the tax line is a priority.
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“I appreciate the question because there’s been a lot of chatter, and it gives me a chance to answer directly,” he said. “The front office absolutely has the green light to go into the luxury tax. … It’s not an issue. I mean, it’s just not an issue. We’re building an arena here. I can tell you that the amount of dollars you spend on that versus the luxury tax, it’s magnitudes more. We’ve built this facility, we’ve signed a number of max deals, so there’s no issue with the luxury tax. And, so, I’m glad that you asked.”
Myers then chimed in: “I just can’t imagine a day where if I said to Josh or leadership said to Josh, ‘This deal makes us a contender, but you have to go into the tax’ — if he says no, which he won’t, I wouldn’t work for somebody like that. Because, look, to be honest, if you look at the history of teams that have won a championship, I was one of them — we were in the tax.”
Harris says he’s looking forward to welcoming Embiid back; Myers weighs ‘Big 3,’ depth-oriented models
During Morey’s six-season run with the franchise, he showed his commitment to Embiid in a big way by giving the one-time NBA MVP and seven-time All-Star a three-year, $193 million extension in the fall of 2024 that gave him a player option for the 2028-29 campaign. In the two seasons since, an assortment of injuries have limited Embiid to 57 regular-season games.
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The same offseason as Embiid’s most recent extension, Morey also inked aging free-agent forward Paul George and burgeoning Sixers guard Tyrese Maxey to max contracts. While Maxey has flourished, George has struggled to stay on the court and even was suspended 25 games this season for violating the NBA’s anti-drug program.
The Sixers got a rare glimpse their “Big 3” on the floor together in the first round of this year’s postseason. That’s when Philadelphia completed its first 3-1 playoff comeback in franchise history, against the rival Boston Celtics no less.
But the Sixers were bruised, tired and simply outmatched by the Knicks in the semis. So the question remains, can you build a championship roster with three max players in today’s NBA, which is currently ruled by a depth-flexing Thunder squad?
“Well, we didn’t get it done this year with three guys, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be done,” Myers said. “I think it’s a smart question, in that what’s the modern roster supposed to look like with the second apron, really, which oftentimes operates as kind of a hard cap.
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“The truth is, depth may be more important than it’s ever been. Maybe that’s the pace of play. Maybe that’s what we require of our players more. Not to say that this model doesn’t work, but we have to look at what happened this year and be honest about it, and we got to be honest about, can this model work? And that’s really the question.”
Harris said the Sixers are “looking forward to welcoming” Embiid back next season. In the fallout of Philadelphia being bounced by New York, trade speculation has run rampant, as has often been the case with Embiid in recent years. The reality is, the Sixers, for now, seem stuck with three hefty contracts, including Embiid’s.
The roster will be piloted by Nurse, who is coming back for his fourth season at the helm. Harris talked Thursday about how the Sixers played hard for Nurse this season, and he commended Nurse for juggling a collection of injuries along the way.
Myers emphasized that they’re trying to find a president of basketball operations who will be a great partner for Nurse.
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Harris on Knicks fans invading Sixers’ arena during Eastern Conference semifinals: ‘It’s on us’
As was the case in 2024 when the Sixers played the Knicks in the first round of the 2024 playoffs, New York practically eliminated Philadelphia’s home-court advantage in this year’s semis.
The Sixers tried to prepare for the swarm of Knicks fans, but their efforts were definitely for naught in Game 4 when New York controlled the environment despite it technically being a “road” game for the Knicks.
“I didn’t like it,” Harris said. “I mean, it’s our home court. We did everything we could, including buying tickets to keep the fans out, we geofenced. Look, it’s on us. I mean, the fans supported us, and let’s face it, we got swept. And so for that last game, there were some Knicks fans in the arena. And so our job is to come back and win that series next year.”
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Harris went on: “It gives me more focus and more orientation to just sort of getting back to work and bringing in, I mean, again, we have a four-time NBA champion here (Myers) who’s going to be overseeing basketball ops, and that’s a big deal. And so there’s a recognition that, ‘Hey, this city’s not going to be satisfied, and we’re not going to be satisfied unless we win an NBA championship.’ That’s hard. There’s 30 teams that want to do it. There’s 29 other teams. They’re all smart, and we need to be smarter.
“And so that’s what this is about. It’s about doing everything we can to move to the next level.”
