Sixers and Spurs meet on crawl toward end of the season

The Philadelphia 76ers and San Antonio Spurs have both had tough seasons of underperformance and injury. The two teams meet Friday night in the final stretch of the season.

Thirteen games remain. We’re almost there.

The Philadelphia 76ers begin the second half of this six-game road trip with a visit to the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night. The last time these two teams met, both starting lineups looked a lot different than how they’ll look Friday night, with the Sixers and Spurs both struggling to string together much success before having the plug finally pulled on their seasons by injuries.

Speaking of the last time these squads faced off, here’s something to make you realize just how long this season has felt. Back on Dec. 23, 2024, the Sixers and Spurs met in South Philadelphia, and this happened:

That’s right, this occurred just about three months ago. Not quite three months, but just about. Don’t you feel like we’ve all lived entire lifetimes since this happened?

I’m sorry. Here comes the injury report for Friday night.

Adem Bona (ankle), Andre Drummond (toe), Kyle Lowry (hip), Tyrese Maxey (back/finger) and Kelly Oubre Jr. (knee) are all out for the Sixers. Lonnie Walker IV is probable after missing four games with a concussion. That is all in addition to Joel Embiid, Paul George, Jared McCain and Eric Gordon, who have all been ruled out for the season.

The Spurs have had their own unfortunate luck with injuries, the most significant being losing team leader Victor Wembanyama for the rest of the season after the young star was diagnosed with a deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder back in mid-February. Then, just about a week ago, it was announced that De’Aaron Fox would undergo season-ending surgery to repair tendon damage in his left pinkie finger. (Turns out the pinkie is pretty important for playing basketball…)

Charles Bassey will also miss this one for the Spurs.

So, it’s a shorter injury list than the Sixers, but still a pretty impactful one. It wasn’t as if the Spurs’ season was going swimmingly before losing Wemby, either — San Antonio was already 23-29. Now, they’re 29-39, and sit 13th in the Western Conference, multiple games back out of a Play-In spot. Meanwhile, the 76ers sit 13th in the Eastern Conference, also multiple games out of a Play-In spot.

What else do these teams both happen to have in common? They probably don’t want to win this game! That brings us back to the good old NBA Draft lottery.

The Sixers are in a neck-and-neck race for fifth lottery positioning alongside the Brooklyn Nets. As of Friday morning, 23-46 Philadelphia is half a game behind Brooklyn after they fell in overtime to the Indiana Pacers last night. The Nets are off Friday night, so the Sixers will be able to retie with Brooklyn in fifth with a loss on Friday night.

With the New Orleans Pelicans holding a four-game buffer in fourth, ending up alone (no ties) in fifth may be the best the Sixers can hope for. That position gives Philadelphia a 63.9% chance to retain their first-round pick (protected for picks 1 through 6) and a 10.5% chance of snagging the first overall pick.

The 23-39 Spurs, meanwhile, are currently in the ninth lottery position, but sit within striking distance of the eight spot, just half a game behind the Miami Heat. San Antonio is also in a neck-and-neck battle in the lottery, with the Heat just ahead and the Chicago Bulls and Portland Trail Blazers right behind them.

The Sixers and Spurs tip off at 8 p.m. ET.

But, be honest, you’ll probably be watching March Madness. We’ll forgive it, this time… as long as you let us know how your brackets are doing and who you plan to watch today on our March Madness discussion thread.

Game Details

When: Friday, March 21, 8 p.m. ET
Where: Frost Bank Center, San Antonio, TX
Watch: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic
Follow: @LibertyBallers