After an eventful offseason, the Sixers now project to have one of the brightest near-term futures of any team in the NBA. ESPN’s Kevin Pelton, Bobby Marks and Tim Bontemps apparently agree.

In ESPN’s latest NBA Future Power Rankings, the Sixers came in at No. 4, trailing only the Oklahoma City Thunder (obviously), Boston Celtics (ew) and New York Knicks (sigh). They’re one spot ahead of the Dallas Mavericks, who are fresh off an NBA Finals appearance, and two spots ahead of the Denver Nuggets, who fell from No. 2 to No. 6 after letting Kentavious Caldwell-Pope walk in free agency.

In last year’s version of the NBA Future Power Rankings, which were published amidst the James Harden trade drama in mid-October, the Sixers were ranked 13th. Having now seen how the Sixers resolved that four-month headache—and the ensuing signing of Paul George, Caleb Martin and others—Bontemps explained why the Sixers flew up the latest edition of the rankings:

“Up nine spots from last season, the 76ers went from closing the James Harden trade saga to landing superstar free agent Paul George in the span of nine months. That helped Philadelphia jump from 15th to fifth in the player category, while a full season with coach Nick Nurse and Daryl Morey’s management of the Harden trade request and its aftermath caused a jump from 17th to a tie for fourth in management. Philly’s fourth place overall ranking is tied for the franchise’s highest ever, matched during the early ‘Process’ days.”

The Sixers were sixth in October 2022 after the acquisitions of De’Anthony Melton, P.J. Tucker and Danuel House Jr., and they were 10th in March 2022 following the blockbuster trade for Harden. They haven’t been in the top five of ESPN’s Future Power Rankings since May 2021, right before the playoffs that effectively ended Simmons’ tenure in Philadelphia.

The Sixers have endured an eventful past few years, to say the least. Going from Simmons to Harden to George would be enough to give anyone whiplash, not to mention the transition from Brett Brown to Doc Rivers to Nick Nurse at head coach and whatever the hell happened in the front office since Bryan Colangelo got itchy Twitter fingers. After a half-decade of nonstop chaos, though, the Sixers have come out on the other side with three star players under long-term contracts and a well-respected head coach and team president. Dare we say, they appear to have stability for the first time in years? (Famous last words.)

A lofty ranking in ESPN’s Future Power Rankings guarantees nothing, of course. The Memphis Grizzlies were fourth in last year’s edition and were first in the two preceding ones, but a relentless wave of injuries caused them to tumble to 12th this time around. The new-look Sixers will need to stay healthy and quickly mesh with one another to stay in this top tier.

But given everything that they’ve gone through over the past 5-6 years, it’s fairly remarkable that the Sixers have managed to climb back to these heights.

Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Salary Swish and salary-cap information via RealGM.