Just two days after being swept by the New York Knicks and losing those four games by an average of 22.5 points, the Philadelphia 76ers have kick-started their internal reset. And the first domino to fall is president of basketball operations Daryl Morey, 53, whose six-year tenure didn’t end with a handshake. If you think back, Morey’s exit was a proper slow burn, beginning from the time James Harden was in Philly. And things finally hit the ceiling after they couldn’t win a championship despite drafting Joel Embiid 12 years ago.

Like it or not, that is the clearest sign of the break: Morey spending hundreds of millions to build around the franchise cornerstone, who stood at the podium after Game 4 and called out “ownership, front office, players, coaches, everybody” for needing to get better. Well, in the NBA, when your franchise player publicly indicts the front office, either the player gets the boot, or if influential enough, the front office tends to disappear. Morey disappeared 48 hours later.

Tony Jones of The Athletic stated that the franchise owners, Josh Harris and David Blitzer, met Morey on Tuesday evening in Philadelphia, and that’s when the decision was made public. Jones further added, “When told of the news of his dismissal, Daryl Morey was disappointed, but understanding of the decision. The meeting between him and ownership was a positive one. The two sides parted on good terms.”

Morey, a man who genuinely believed, even through the dysfunction, that he was one healthy Embiid season away from breaking through. But the big man’s body just hasn’t supported that vision. The 76ers, though, appear to have run out of patience and even have an interim replacement ready in a four-time NBA champion.

Bob Myers, the architect of the Golden State Warriors’ modern-day dynasty, currently serves as president of sports for Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment. Now, he will take over as the 76ers’ interim head of basketball operations and will also lead the search for a long-term replacement. Speaking of replacement, Harris, one of the owners, praised Morey and clarified that the organization has “a tremendous amount of respect” for the work done.

But after the meeting with Morey, they “determined that it was time for a fresh start.” In the past 6 seasons, the Sixers have had five playoff berths and a 270-212 regular-season record, but just 26-26 in the postseason. They never advanced beyond the second round. So, the speed of the decision was no accident. The ownership had one window to act before the market opened, and Embiid’s pointed postgame statement gave Harris and Blitzer the signal they needed.

The final indignity may have been the optics of Knicks fans essentially taking over Xfinity Mobile Arena during the sweep, the second time in two years that the New York fanbase had colonized a Sixers home playoff game. And in case you’re feeling that Morey was hard done by, in today’s NBA, patience is practically extinct. Of the last seven coaches to win a championship, four were fired within five seasons by the teams they led to titles. GMs fare no better: Morey’s own predecessor, Elton Brand, was pushed out in 2020 for the same sin- playoff appearances without a deep run.

In a league where the margin between “promising” and “replaceable” is measured in conference finals appearances, Morey simply never cashed the check his regular-season resume wrote. And for an ownership group that prides itself on market dominance, that image was unsustainable. One of his early problematic decisions was trading James Harden. The Beard came to Philly ahead of the 2022 deadline, but his tenure was cut short as the 76ers declined to offer Harden a long-term maximum contract in 2023. This even led Harden to call out the then-president during a promotional tour in China.

“Daryl Morey is a liar, and I will never be a part of an organization that he’s a part of. Let me say that again: Daryl Morey is a liar, and I will never be a part of an organization that he’s a part of,” Harden publicly said after the 76ers couldn’t find a trade destination for him. He eventually reported to training camp that summer but never suited up for them again. That wasn’t Morey’s only problem, though.

Another controversy arose when Morey signed Paul George to a four-year, $212 million maximum deal in the summer of 2024, and locked down Embiid to a three-year, $192.9 million contract extension soon after. The vision was the Big 3 of PG, Embiid, and Tyrese Maxey, but they have bizarrely played only 43 games together over the past two seasons, including the playoffs, owning a 21-22 record. Philly’s problems extend beyond the court.

The financial implications are huge this season, as they are owed $153 million. To somewhat course correct the financial strain, Morey even traded Jared McCain to Oklahoma City at the February trade deadline to get under the luxury tax line. It baffled the home fanbase, and Morey made things worse when he called it “selling high.” As expected, it didn’t age well… McCain, barely used in Philly despite a non-existent bench rotation, averaged 11.5 points for the defending-champion Thunder in their second-round sweep of LA. This would still be a forgivable offense had the 76ers gotten something nice in return, but…

The man who said the Sixers were selling high had, in fact, sold remarkably low, and within weeks, both McCain and Morey were gone, just in very different ways. In return, they got a 2026 first-round pick and three second-round picks, basically pocket change. As no other additions were made to boost the team for a playoff run, it even led to tension between Embiid and Morey. That’s why the former MVP put the franchise on notice with his goals for next season.

“At times, it’s okay to just say the other team was better,” Embiid said after Game 4. “Got to get better, from top to bottom. Ownership, front office, players, coaches. Everybody just has to get better.” Ownership took notice, and the first domino has fallen. That brings up the question… who is the next to fall?

Why Nick Nurse remains in the seat amid Daryl Morey’s dismissal

Nick Nurse’s time in Philadelphia has been far from perfect (a 116-130 regular-season record). But his coaching IQ was truthfully on display when the underdog 76ers beat the Celtics in the first round. With the roster never being fit enough, it has been a challenge for the head coach, and so far, ownership seems impressed. “Head coach Nick Nurse will continue in his role into a fourth season with the 76ers, sources tell ESPN,” said the report.

Sources also revealed that the ownership will only replace Nurse if they find another championship-level coach. Another reason the head coach got to stay, and Morey didn’t, was that the former is well-respected within the franchise, especially in the locker room. But after the Knicks swept the Sixers in Game 4, changes had to be made, and the numbers tell you exactly why.

The Knicks outscored the 76ers 497-408 across four games, won three of those four by double digits, and finished with a 19.4-point average margin of victory- the largest through two playoff rounds since the league expanded to 16 teams in 1984. The Sixers had the first basket in Game 4, but the Knicks then went on a 20-4 run, were up 20 before the end of the first quarter, and led by as many as 44. In the postseason alone, the Sixers lost four times by at least 30 points.

If the scoreboard wasn’t humiliating enough, the atmosphere inside Xfinity Mobile Arena was. Knicks fans raised brooms outside the arena and waved “Always Knicks” towels once inside, neutering the few Sixers fans who hadn’t sold their seats on the secondary market.

And if the sweep and the fan takeover didn’t saddle the Sixers with enough bad news, there was one final cutting blow: Philadelphia’s two first-round 2018 draft picks are still playing: Mikal Bridges and Landry Shamet, of course, for the Knicks.

That is the full picture of the embarrassment, not just a bad series, but a franchise humiliated in its own building,