The 76ers have had a prominent history, with many Hall of Fame players having played for the organization, including Dolph Schayes, Hal Greer, Wilt Chamberlain, Chet Walker, Billy Cunningham, George McGinnis, Julius Erving, Maurice Cheeks, Bobby Jones, Moses Malone, Charles Barkley, and Allen Iverson.

Cervi, playing less and coaching more, emphasized a patient offense and a scrappy defense, which led the league in the 1951–52 season by yielding a stingy 79.5 points per game as the Nationals won the Eastern Division with a solid 40–26 record.

Needing a win in Boston to keep their hopes alive, the Nationals took the Celtics deep into overtime before losing in quadruple OT 111–105, in what remains the longest playoff game in NBA history.

Fort Wayne and Rochester had moved on to Detroit and Cincinnati for the 1957–58 season, leaving the Syracuse Nationals as the last small-town team in the big city NBA.

In the playoffs, the Nationals swept the Knickerbockers in two straight to reach the Eastern Finals, where they lost to the eventual champion Celtics, alternating wins before losing by 5 points in Game 7.

Playing in a league now dominated by superstars like Bill Russell of the Celtics, Wilt Chamberlain of the Warriors, Bob Pettit of the St. Louis Hawks and Elgin Baylor of the Lakers, the Nationals held their own, posting a solid 45–30 record, while finishing in third place after the 1959–60 regular season.

[22] Led by Erving, the 76ers began an exciting ride, beating their long-time rival from Boston in a seven-game playoff series to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.

In the Finals, they sprinted to a 2–0 series lead over the Bill Walton-led Portland Trail Blazers—who were coached by former 76ers' coach/general manager Jack Ramsay—only to drop the next four games in a row to give the Blazers the title.

In five seasons with the 76ers, Hawkins would average 19 points per game, and was the team's all-time leader in three-point field goals attempted and made when he was traded to the Charlotte Hornets for Dana Barros, Sidney Green and draft picks in 1993.

A rumored trade to the Los Angeles Clippers fell through, but a complicated four-team deal that would've seen Iverson sent to Detroit was agreed upon, only to see it dissolve due to salary cap problems.

Despite holding a 41–14 record and a comfortable lead atop both the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference standings at the time of the February 22 trade deadline, management felt the team needed an established center to advance deep into the playoffs.

In Game Seven, the Bucks jumped out to a 34–25 second-quarter advantage before seldom-used reserve Raja Bell scored 10 points to spark a 23–4 run that gave Philadelphia the lead for good.

As had been the case in their three previous Finals appearances, their opponent would be the Los Angeles Lakers, who had run up an 11–0 record in the first three rounds of the playoffs and were expected by many to make quick work of a worn-down 76ers squad.

In the second round, the Detroit Pistons ended Philadelphia's playoff run in a frustrating six-game series that saw the 76ers lose twice in overtime, and once on a last-second shot in regulation.

During this season, Philadelphia acquired Chris Webber in a trade with the Sacramento Kings, with the hopes that the team had at long last found a consistent second scoring option to complement Iverson.

Shortly after the season ended, O'Brien was fired and replaced by the popular Maurice Cheeks, who played for the team from 1978 to 1989, and was the starting point guard for the 1983 NBA Champions.

[29] On December 19, 2006, Allen Iverson, along with Ivan McFarlin, were sent to the Denver Nuggets in exchange for guard Andre Miller, forward Joe Smith, and two first-round draft picks.

On July 9, 2008, the 76ers signed power forward Elton Brand to a five-year, $79.795 million contract,[31] after trading Rodney Carney[32] and renouncing their rights to all their unrestricted free agents.

[51][52] Harris decided to retain head coach Doug Collins and president of basketball operations Rod Thorn but fired Ed Stefanski, who served as general manager since 2007.

The 76ers then used their amnesty clause on Brand, traded for Dorell Wright, signed Nick Young, Kwame Brown, and Ivey, and re-signed Spencer Hawes, while Lavoy Allen, Williams, and Jodie Meeks left through free agency.

Additionally, Noel was recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament injury suffered while in college, strongly indicating that he would not be able to make an immediate impact for the 76ers as he would be inactive to start the season.

Neither prospect was expected to make an immediate impact for the Sixers, as Embiid was recovering from a stress fracture in the navicular bone, while Šarić would likely spend one or more years playing in the Turkish Basketball League.

[81] On November 12, 2018, the 76ers traded Šarić, Robert Covington, Jerryd Bayless and a 2022 second-round draft pick to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for Jimmy Butler and Justin Patton.

[92] On February 10, 2022, the 76ers acquired James Harden and Paul Millsap from the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for Simmons, Andre Drummond, Seth Curry, and two first-round picks.

The Sixers traded James Harden, P. J. Tucker and Filip Petrušev to the Los Angeles Clippers for Marcus Morris, Robert Covington, and Nicolas Batum.

After sporting "PHILA" on the chest for eight seasons, the uniform now read "Sixers" in Art Deco style lettering, rendered in white on the road and red at home.

[117] The team's first annual "City" uniform features an ornate "Phila" lettering, blue numbers with red drop shadows, and other elements inspired from the American Declaration of Independence in 1776.

[121] The 2020–21 "City" uniform paid homage to the Allen Iverson era and the Boathouse Row landmark, featuring a black base with red, blue and white accents.

The Charles Barkley-led Sixers of the later 1980s took the fight to the Celtics; neither team experienced much playoff success in the late 1980s, and both took steep nosedives in the Eastern Conference rankings throughout the 1990s.

The second time, exactly ten years later, the Big Three Celtics (Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen) defeated the valiant eight seed 76ers team 4–3.