Jared McCain’s Potential Second-Year Breakout Could Get Sixers Over the Hump

Despite underperforming relative to expectations over the past half-decade or more, the future could be bright for the Philadelphia 76ers. The team’s core is older and injury-prone, with Joel Embiid and Paul George at the helm, but there’s reason for optimism in the 2025-26 campaign and beyond. 

That’s primarily due to the fact that the Sixers have drafted extremely well of late. In the past two drafts, they’ve landed Jared McCain (21 years old) and VJ Edgecombe (20 years old) and both should be longtime starters in Philadelphia in the future. They will pair nicely with Tyrese Maxey, who is a 24-year-old star in the frontcourt. 

As such, the Sixers truly have their core guards and wings for the future. It’s all about adding frontcourt pieces from here, especially if Embiid and George aren’t able to stay healthy and bring this team into contention. There’s a real scenario in which Philadelphia retools in a year or two, if that’s the case, which wouldn’t be the worst idea with how much young talent the Sixers roster is starting to accumulate. 

But in the meantime, Philadelphia wants to win now. One key piece in that becoming a reality will be the play of McCain in his second season. He was having a phenomenal rookie campaign before suffering a season-ending lateral meniscus tear in his left knee. Prior to that, he had averaged 15.3 points, 2.6 assists and 2.4 rebounds through 23 games while shooting 38.3% from beyond the arc on nearly six attempts. 

His shotmaking from the perimeter was special as a rookie. McCain’s ability to stretch the defense and take attention away from the team's stars was a very effective wrinkle for the Sixers. Now in the 2025-26 campaign, he will need to continue being a primary scoring piece for Philadelphia if this team is going to make noise in the Eastern Conference. 

It will, of course, require the other primary rotation pieces playing at their best for the Sixers to make the playoffs and advance beyond the second round for the first time since 2001. But McCain will have the ability to really push this team into a new tier and make a larger impact than nearly any other second-year player. 

The Eastern Conference is wide open this season due to key injuries on top teams, so don’t count out the 76ers. When healthy, this team has a great combination of veteran talent and youth to be one of the best teams in the East.