The Sixers are back on the road again to finish this back-to-back, going against one of the few teams currently out tanking them: the 19-53 Pelicans.
The end is in sight. This brutal Sixers season is finally winding down, with a loss on Sunday against the Hawks taking the team to 23-48. On Monday, the Sixers are finishing off their back-to-back against New Orleans — one of only four teams with a worse record than Philadelphia at 19-52.
The Pelicans are also on the second night of a back-to-back, following a 136-130 loss on Sunday against the Pistons. And as you’d expect, there will still be a host of absences for both teams.
While we’ll need to wait until closer to tip-off for a new official injury report following Sunday’s game, the Sixers’ list is clearly going to be extensive. On Sunday, Joel Embiid, Jared McCain, Paul George, Tyrese Maxey, Kelly Oubre Jr., Eric Gordon, Adem Bona, Andre Drummond, Lonnie Walker IV and Kyle Lowry were all out. You can expect something similar on Monday. Even new 10-day-contract recruit Oshae Brissett left the game with right knee swelling and didn’t return.
Meanwhile, the Pelicans will also be shorthanded with several key players remaining on the sidelines. Zion Williamson has been dealing with a back injury recently and is day-to-day after remaining out on Sunday. Again, we’ll have to wait for a new injury report to see if Zion will suit up on Monday — although it’s safe to say the Pelicans won’t want to rush him onto the court when they have the draft lottery to think about themselves.
With Dejounte Murray out for the season since the start of February, Herb Jones ruled out since the end of February, Trey Murphy III suffering a season-ending shoulder injury last week, and Williamson only playing 30 games all season, the Pelicans have had plenty of poor injury luck to help keep them down the bottom of the Western Conference.
Let’s check back in with Tankathon to see how the Sixers’ odds look heading into Monday’s game:
The second night of a road back-to-back with most of the team ruled out should be a perfect recipe for another loss and a slight boost to the lottery odds, but these struggling Pelicans won’t make that quite so easy.
The biggest bright spot for the Sixers’ current basketball product — apart from the continued improving play of young guys Justin Edwards — is Quentin Grimes.
Justin Edwards in his last three games:
62 points
10 three-pointers
66.6 TS%A compilation of 10 Edwards baskets during this span, from quick-trigger spot-up shooting to self-created scoring and more: pic.twitter.com/h2O1Mw2vkJ
— Adam Aaronson’s clips (@SixersAdamClips) March 23, 2025
The team’s new guard continues to go on a tear and impress with his all around play, racking up 28.0 points, 4.9 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 2.1 steals per game with 51.7/39.8/72.6 shooting splits over the last 12 contests. If someone leads the way over the Pelicans’ own tank efforts, it’ll be Grimes.
Yet again, though, the quality of basketball overall probably isn’t going to the best between two tired teams who are petering along at the bottom of the league’s standings as they hope for good lottery chances…
We’ll see if things go the Sixers’ way for another slight increase in their odds.
Game Details
When: Monday, March 24, 8:00 p.m. ET
Where: Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, LA
Watch: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic
Follow: @LibertyBallers