The Philadelphia 76ers are off to a blazing hot start to the 2023-24 NBA season. At 6-1, the Sixers are atop the Eastern Conference and only behind the 8-1 defending champions Denver Nuggets for the best record in the league. Sixers superstar Joel Embiid has a theory as to why his team is doing so well at the beginning of the campaign, and it’s hard not to take it as a subtle shot at James Harden after his trade to the Los Angeles Clippers.

“Nobody has an ego on this team,” Embiid said after the Sixers jumped out to their 6-1 record.

While he didn’t mention the James Harden trade to the Clippers at all, the quote suggests that last season there were egos on the Sixers that dragged the team down and led to losses.

Philadelphia started the 2022-23 NBA season with three straight losses and was 3-4 at the same juncture last year. They finished 54-28 (third in the East) and lost in the second round of the playoffs to the Boston Celtics.

This season, without a top-75 NBA player of all time in Harden, no Sixers player outside of the reigning MVP, Joel Embiid, has eye-popping stats like Harden did — leading the league in assists per game — but the franchise is getting wins as a team.

Aside from ego, the biggest reason the Sixers are flourishing after the James Harden trade is that a lot of touches that went to the now-34-year-old Clippers guard are going to 23-year-old budding star Tyrese Maxey.

The young guard is currently averaging (by far) career highs in minutes (37.6), points (25.4), assists (7.0), and rebounds (5.1) per game. Those are the tangible numbers behind the Sixers' hot start, but it’s interesting to hear that Embiid thinks no egos is just as important.