A Win To Get In: Magic vs. 76ers Play-In Tournament Preview

One more win to officially clinch a spot in the postseason.

After making their way through the 2025-26 NBA regular season, the Philadelphia 76ers finished the year with a 45-37 record, good enough to place them as the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference standings. Now, in previous years, that would be it; they’d play whoever the No. 2 seed is in the first round.

However, the NBA has changed things up, creating the Play-In Tournament, a one-game winner-take-all matchup for the No. 7 seed. If the 76ers are to lose this game, they’ll have another chance to make the playoffs as the No. 8 seed, but they’ll have to beat the winner of the No. 9 vs. No. 10 game.

As the No. 7 seed, the 76ers will host the game vs the No. 8 seed, the Orlando Magic, with the Charlotte Hornets hosting and defeating the Miami Heat in overtime in the 9 vs. 10 game. It will be the 76ers’ second appearance in the Play-In Tournament, having competed in 2024 as the No. 7 seed. During that season, they took on the No. 8 seed Heat and defeated them in an intense come-from-behind victory led by 20 points off the bench from Nicolas Batum.

Will the 76ers be able to pull out the victory, setting up a date with their draded rivals, the Boston Celtics, or will Magic steal the No. 7 seed and force Philadelphia to play another game to get into the playoffs?

No Joel, No Problem?

Unlike the last time they were in the Play-In, this time around, the 76ers will be without Joel Embiid for not only this game, but an extended period of time. Embiid was ruled out last week with appendicitis, needing emergency surgery to fix the issue.

Now, no timetable has been given for a return for Embiid, but for players who have suffered similar injuries and surgeries, appendicitis has usually taken up to about a month to return to play. Granted, none of them were during the playoffs, so who knows when Embiid will work his way back into the rotation.

While he’s only played 38 games this season, Embiid’s made the most of them, posting 26.9 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 3.9 assists. The 76ers will not win a championship without Embiid in their lineup, as not only will they miss the big man’s play, but Adem Bona and Andre Drummond can only do so much as they enter starting roles in playoff games.

For the Play-In, the 76ers won their previous game against the Magic with Embiid in the lineup, and went 1-1 without him. Wendell Carter Jr. has scored 10, 12, and 13 points in those three games, so we’ll see if not having Embiid in the lineup affects this game.

READ MORE ON EMBIID:

How the 76ers Must Adapt Without Joel Embiid for the Postseason

“Return Of The Mack”

In Embiid’s absence, many have stepped up to fill his role on the offensive end. Tyrese Maxey has been the top dog in terms of scoring, posting a career-high 28.3 points per game this season. Maxey, at times, has looked like the man for the 76ers, with many arguing that this is now his team with Embiid missing more and more action as of late.

While Maxey’s stocks have risen big time this year, over the past few weeks, one player has played arguably his best basketball not only this season but during his entire tenure with the 76ers in Paul George.

Yes, the man with three theme songs is beating the washed allegations during his 16th season, playing some of his best basketball as of recently. George was suspended 25 games early this season due to a positive PED test, knocking him out for the entire middle of the season when Maxey and Embiid were also both dealing with injuries.

However, since returning from his suspension, George has been unstoppable, averaging 21 points, 5.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 2.2 steals. George also posted a 39-point performance back on April 1, the most points he’s scored in a game all season.

Maxey is going to be the go-to guy at least until Embiid returns, but the 76ers will need big-time play from PG if they want any chance of not only winning the Play-In game, but at least trying to make some kind of postseason run.

Stopping Franz And Paolo

If the 76ers are going to beat Orlando, containing Franz Wagner, Desmond Bane, and Paolo Banchero is the key. The Magic are a very weird team this year, as last offseason they made a big splash move trading for Bane from the Grizzlies for Cole Anthony, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, four unprotected first-round picks, and a pick swap.

They were selling out their future to make a big three with Wagner and Banchero in a not-so-loaded Eastern Conference; however, the trade quickly proved to be not exactly what they hoped. Bane is not a bad player, but the team dynamic hasn’t worked for the big three, as their offensive scoring at times struggles due to their lack of efficient three-point shooting.

The three just don’t seem to work well together, at least with Jamahl Mosley as their head coach, and it’s caused this team to be an ineffective mess all season long.

It has been shown on the schedule that winning streaks were hard to come by all season long as they sat within a game or two around .500 for the majority of the season until March, when they rattled off seven straight wins. Unfortunately, they followed that streak up by losing six straight, essentially killing that hot run they were on.

If the 76ers can stop the team from getting hot from beyond the arc and keep the Magic’s runs to a minimum, even without Embiid, the 76ers have a great shot to pull out this win. They’ve done it twice before this year, and they’ll look to make it three of four for the season.

The matchup between the Magic and the 76ers takes place on Wednesday, April 15, on Prime Video, with tipoff set for 7:30 p.m. EST.

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