The Philadelphia 76ers are off to a good start to the 2025-26 NBA season. The team is looking to avenge their disappointing 2024-25 season, where they had a 24-58 record and missed the playoffs. It’s also the time for the stars (Joel Embiid and Paul George) to have a comeback year. Both stars suffered season-ending injuries in the previous campaign.
The squad worked on the players’ injuries from the previous season throughout the offseason. They also worked on getting everyone on the same page. Veteran big man Andre Drummond revealed that the team underwent a serious and intense summer. The former All-Star center told reporters that the team’s scrimmages became intense, to the point where no one was calling fouls.
It was their focus throughout the offseason to make sure they’re ready for the new season.
“This offseason has been hard for us,” Drummond said. “We were scrimmaging without calling fouls. No calls. Guys were just out there, hooping. We’ve been sick of playing against each other. It’s been good to go out there and take some aggression out on other teams.”
This explained the strong start to the season for the 76ers. Over the first two games of the year, Drummond has taken care of the boards well. In their season opener, the veteran player only played for 2:43 and had only one rebound. However, he went on to have a game with seven points, thirteen rebounds, and two steals.
It’s been years since he’s been an All-Star. However, he’s still able to put up decent numbers when he’s on the floor. Especially when it comes to rebounding, Drummond still excels.
76ers’ head coach spoke highly of Andre Drummond’s recent performance
As a backup to Embiid, Drummond has served his role well. He is aware that he should only handle the rebounds and get simple baskets beneath the rim and within the paint. Following his performance in the past two games, head coach Nick Nurse had high praise for how well he does his role.
“I’m thrilled that he was able to play so well,” Nurse said. “And now, I’m kind of wondering why I didn’t use him earlier. I knew that I would eventually have to use him again, because Joel was down to just a few minutes in the second half. I was trying to find some spark, and he gave it. All of a sudden, the rebounding got a lot easier. We got some extra possessions. He made some good contributions.”
With the injury issues to Embiid, there’s a chance that Drummond could have more playing time this season, similar to the previous campaign. Last year, he started 23 out of the 40 games he played in. The two-time All-Star averaged 7.3 points and 7.8 rebounds.
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Reign also writes NBA and WNBA news updates on Sportskeeda. He started as a feature writer for AirAlamo, an NBA website that covers the San Antonio Spurs. Some of his work can also be seen on Valley of the Suns, a Phoenix Suns-centric website, where he served as a contributing writer.
