Jan 7, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia 76ers forward Paul George (8) shoots the ball against the Washington Wizards during the third quarter at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images Bill Streicher
There will be nights where nuance and tactical wrinkles will determine how high the 76ers’ ceiling in 2026 is.
And there will be nights where the team’s top three players who have between them 16 (soon to be 17) All-Star appearances just go out and beat an opponent.
A long season has room for both. And two nights after playing down to undermanned Denver, the 76ers Big 3 made sure it did no such thing against shorthanded Washington in a milestone game.
Joel Embiid scored 28 points, Paul George added 23 and Tyrese Maxey had 22 as the 76ers ran past a mid-trade-chaos Washington, 131-110, Wednesday night.
It’s the first time that all three members of the Big 3 have scored 20 more points in the same game, this being their 24th time playing together.
Whether or not it’s a substantive step forward remains to be seen.
“I think next step is just being consistent with it,” George said. “String more games like this together. That'll be a step in the right direction.”
The mission Wednesday was fairly straightforward. The Washington Wizards are not great, entering 14th in the East, maybe ahead of projections at 10-25. The Sixers’ third straight opponent on Night 2 of a back-to-back, the Wizards rested CJ McCollum and Khris Middleton after beating Orlando Tuesday. They also scratched Corey Kispert an hour before the game with a left hamstring injury management designation absent from earlier injury reports.
Moments after leaving the court, the Wizards announced the acquisition of All-Star guard Trae Young from Atlanta for McCollum and Kispert.
Such mitigating factors didn’t stop the nine-man Nuggets, missing eight regulars, from beating the 76ers in overtime on Monday. The Sixers didn’t make the same mistake of playing down to opposition twice in 48 hours, and the tone set by the Big 3 was why.
The first-half stat lines:
Through three quarters, starters accounted for 90 of 92 76ers points. The Big 3 had 70 of them. George would finish a plus-25, Maxey plus-20, Embiid plus-27.
Embiid didn’t have to play in the fourth quarter, an 11-0 burst by the unit that started the frame stretching the lead to 20. That limited him to 25:24 on the court, after he topped 40 minutes Monday, his highest figure since the 2024 playoff series against the New York Knicks.
There were some important factors to augment the stars. Kelly Oubre returned after 22 games out with a knee strain and logged 20 minutes with two points and three rebounds. Trendon Watford got a chance to play 4:45 in the fourth after his 17 games out with an adductor strain. Dominick Barlow provided a lift with 11 points (on 5-for-6 shooting) and six rebounds. Quentin Grimes did his usual closing bit with 14 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter. VJ Edgecombe paired 13 points with six rebounds, seven assists and five steals in a typically tenacious performance.
The more significant milestone may be that the 76ers had no one on the injury report for the first time since December 2023.
“Obviously it feels good,” Embiid said. “We’ve finally got the whole team healthy. Still got to be smart. That's a good thing.”
Wednesday’s game was as simple as the 76ers best players showing they were way better than the Wizards’ best players. Too seldom has that translated into easy wins. For at least one night, it did.
Much of it was as hoped for. Embiid was 10-for-14 from the field. He got to the line eight times. He pushed around Washington’s inferior post players to get to where he wanted.
Maxey attacked early and often, with eight assists. The opening unit scored 32 points in the game’s first nine minutes. It should’ve been a lead that carried the day, but the Wizards’ 11-0 open to the second quarter gave it a brief lead until George helped settle the game, the Sixers leading by six at half.
George was 4-for-6 from 3-point range. After his 3-point percentage dipped to 35.8 last year, he’s back up over 40 percent this season.
In part, it’s a product of the role he’s occupying. It’s the complementary one the 76ers signed him for.
“Obviously Joel and Tyrese are our two engines,” George said. “Those guys are going to, rightfully so, demand attention and demand the ball in moments to score and put points up for us. And I’ve got to fit in, find my shots, my opportunities and moments to be aggressive. So that's what I'm trying to do.
“But more than anything is, defensively, I know I can still be elite. I can still make plays, I can still get us extra possessions, limit the offense’s best player or just make things tough for the opposing players, and then try to be a calming voice and keep us level, keep us pretty even-keeled, but still apply pressure on moments where we're not playing well defensively.”
Offensively, the 76ers have the potential to be special. They’re 13th in the NBA in offensive rating and sixth among teams in the East. More time with George and Embiid seems likely to improve that. The return of Oubre, the options presented by Watford, the continued improvement of Edgecombe and perhaps more time to get Jared McCain comfortable in the second unit should also bolster it.
With the offensive talent in place, the 76ers should be fine there. It’s a sign of progress and security that Embiid can say with confidence that he knows what to expect at that end of the floor.
“Obviously, it's nice when you're making shots,” Embiid said. “Paul was in the first half, then the third quarter, I kind of got going a little bit. But it depends on game to game. Some games, it’s going to look like that. Some games is going to be, you know, Tyrese and PG, or Tyrese and VJ, or me and PG, vice versa. So once you start up, they key is working together.
“But my main focus is, I think if we’re a better team defensively, that's where we going go wherever we want to. Offensively, I think we have enough talent to do whatever we want. So it's all about locking in defensively.”
