3 Philadelphia 76ers players who won’t be back next season

As “The Process” fell short of full completion again, these three players won’t be back with the Philadelphia 76ers next season.

With a Game 7 loss to the Atlanta Hawks Sunday night, who were betting underdogs heading into the series, the Philadelphia 76ers have now failed to advance past the second round of the playoffs in four straight years.

Even if Ben Simmons is a rightful target for criticism after his abysmal playoff showing, there is blame to go around from various points in this year’s proceedings (Doc Rivers, Tobias Harris, Joel Embiid). Simmons and Embiid have never seemed to fit all that well together on the floor, and those concerns are back in full force. There are also some indications they don’t get along.

76ers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey is not afraid to make moves, that’s for sure. Now heading into the offseason, no one on this side of Embiid is off-limits in trade talks.

Putting different pieces (shooters) around Embiid and Simmons was a good plan by Morey last offseason, and Seth Curry was the 76ers’ second-best player in the series against the Hawks. But that latter point is also telling. So the time for tweaks around the star duo might be over, in favor of a major move to shake things up.

With decisions small and big coming, these three players won’t be back with the 76ers next season.

3. Anthony Tolliver won’t be back for the 76ers

Tolliver signed his first 10-day contract with Philadelphia in April, followed by a second 10-day deal and ultimately a deal for the rest of the season in early May. He surely wasn’t expected to play much, and he didn’t (11 regular-season games, one playoff game, 101 total minutes). At this stage of his career, Tolliver is a locker room leader and nothing else.

But the 76ers need more from their depth pieces than intangible value. Letting Tolliver pursue any opportunities he might find elsewhere will be easy.