Watching from the Sidelines

by Marc Narducci | Jun 2, 2025

This was among the most difficult seasons for the 76ers. As if it wasn’t bad enough to see the team struggle through a 24-58 season, now Sixers fans have to see two of their former players competing in the NBA finals.

And it will be guaranteed for the second straight season that a former Sixers will be hoisting the Larry O’Brien Trophy, awarded to the NBA champ after former guard Jrue Holiday was a big part of the Boston Celtics championship team last year.

In this year’s finals, T.J. McConnell is a key reserve for the Indiana Pacers, while Isaiah Joe comes off the bench for the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Of the two, McConnell has played a greater role in his team’s success.

It must be noted that the Sixers gave McConnell his chance in the NBA. He was an undrafted free agent out of Arizona, a 6-foot-1 point guard, who was known for his tenaciousness and fight.

McConnell joined the Process Sixers when they were still not trying to win games for the chance of drafting better players. His first season was 2015-16 when the Sixers sank to a 10-72 record.

Because they were so bad, an unproven player such as McConnell earned valuable playing time. The Sixers would go 28-54 during his second year, before turning into a perennial NBA playoff team (prior to this past season).

The Sixers went 52-21 his third year and 51-31 during McConnell’s fourth and final season with the Sixers. That was the team that came closest to winning a title in the Joe Embiid era. The 2018-19 Sixers were eliminated in the seventh game, 92-90 in Toronto, the infamous Kawhi Leonard four-bouncer that won it at the buzzer for the Raptors.

After that season McConnell signed as a free agent with the Indiana Pacers, where he has been a fixture as a backup point guard during his six seasons. This year he is averaging 8.4 points in 16.3 minutes during the playoffs for the Pacers, giving them a major spark off the bench.

Joe spent two seasons as a deep reserve for the Sixers before finding a home for the past three seasons with Oklahoma City. He had his best regular season this year, averaging 10.2 points and shooting .412 from three-point range. He is averaging 5.2 points in 16 playoff games for the ultra-deep Thunder.

There is no doubt that over the years, each player could have helped the Sixers, but that is now revisionist history.

In addition to these two, the Sixers began the process by trading the aforementioned Holiday to New Orleans after the 2012-13 season, one in which he earned an All-Star bid.

Holiday would eventually become a difference maker on two NBA championship teams, the 2020-21 Milwaukee Bucks and the 2023-24 Boston Celtics, his first season with both teams.

All teams miss on personnel moves, but McConnell, Joe and certainly Holiday are players who could have helped the Sixers over the years. For the Sixers’ fans to watch two in the finals now and another with two NBA rings, just adds to their pain of not having a team even reach the NBA finals since the 2000-2001 season, when the Allen Iverson-led group lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in five games.

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Author: Marc Narducci

Watching from the Sidelines

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