Daryl Morey Out As 76ers President of Basketball Operations, Nick Nurse Remaining On As Head Coach
President of basketball operations Daryl Morey looks on during a press conference at the Seventy Sixers Practice Facility on February 15, 2022 in Camden, New Jersey. (Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)
The 76ers have made a major shake-up in their front office.
After six years with the franchise as the leader of their front office, the Philadelphia 76ers have fired President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey. Morey met with 76ers owners Josh Harris and David Blitzer on Tuesday evening and decided to part ways with Morey.
Nick Nurse will remain the head coach for the team, while former Warriors general manager and current president of Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, Bob Myers, will lead the search for the team’s new head executive. Myers will also oversee the franchise’s basketball department in the interim.
It’s not a shocking move considering the rumors over the past few days that Morey was a dead man walking when it came to remaining with the franchise. While he made mistakes, Morey was likely to be the scapegoat for this sis season’sason’s failures.
The 76ers were eliminated by the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, swept in four games for just the third time in franchise history. The series loss highlighted the issues the 76ers suffered from all season, with their lack of bench and heavy reliance on their five starters leading to their downfall.
While Morey’s firing is a positive for the team, as his mindset of star hunting and trying to pair Embiid with proven veterans has gotten the 76ers nowhere in six years, he remains just a small part of the huge problem the 76ers are currently in.
The lack of bench depth has been a huge issue all over the years, with players who would get time off the bench for the 76ers, like Jared McCain, Julian Champagnie, and Isaac Jones, to name a few. McCain was the most recent player to be moved, as he was traded to the Thunder in exchange for a first-rounder this year and three second-round picks.
While many guards like Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, and Quentin Grimes stood in front of McCain for playing time, the former Duke Blue Devil was coming off a stellar start to his rookie season before being injured and was amping his way back up before being dealt.
However, he was moved as a way for the 76ers to duck the luxury tax and has since blossomed for OKC. During the regular season, McCain averaged 10.4 points, and in the playoffs, 7.3 points.
This will be the sixth different executive that the 76ers center, Joel Embiid, will have played under, with Morey being the longest-lasting executive during that time. Morey was brought in back in 2020 to work alongside, at the time, 76ers general manager Elton Brand. However, the hiring of Morey was a move to essentially push Brand out of power, with him moving to a more behind-the-scenes role.
Whoever becomes the next executive for the 76ers will be inheriting two $55+ million veterans in Embiid and Paul George, with George still set to earn over $100 milion over the next two seasons. On top of that, they’re losing multiple rotational players to free agency this summer, with Quentin Grimes, Kelly Oubre Jr., and Andre Drummond all outright free agents this summer.
Matt Brown
Matt has been a Philadelphia sports fan all his life and spent four years at Penn State University majoring in Broadcast Journalism and minoring in Sports Studies. He previously covered Penn State’s field hockey, men’s and women’s basketball, and baseball teams while writing for a Penn State blog called Onward State. He has now covered the Phillies, Eagles, and Sixers for Philly Sports Reports since October 2024 and wants to pursue a career in Sports Journalism.
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