Sixers owner Josh Harris: ‘I’m really optimistic that we are going to make a playoff run now’

MILWAUKEE — Josh Harris is feeling good about his 76ers after Thursday’s NBA trade deadline.

“Listen, we got Joel [Embiid healthy],” the team’s co-managing partner said at a Fanatics event in New Orleans ahead of the Super Bowl. “When Joel, Tyrese [Maxey], and Paul [George] are all on the court, we are a great team. So we got to keep everyone healthy.

“In particular, Joel is a warrior. I know he’s fighting through some stuff, and I’m really optimistic that we are going to make a playoff run now.”

» READ MORE: The dream version of the Sixers ‘Big Three’ isn’t coming until Paul George and Joel Embiid mesh

The Sixers were 7-4 in the 11 games that Embiid, George, and Maxey have played together heading into Sunday afternoon’s game against the Milwaukee Bucks at Fiserv Forum. At 20-31, they were in 11th place in the Eastern Conference standings.

The top six finishers in the Eastern and Western Conferences automatically qualify for the playoffs. The teams seeded Nos. 7 through 10 will compete for their conferences' final two postseason berths in the Play-In Tournament.

The Sixers were one game behind the 10th-place Chicago Bulls with 31 games remaining.

“My message to Sixers fans is it’s been a tough season and we’re all in this together,” Harris said. “We feel it. And we’re all working really hard to make it better. And thank you for supporting us.”

The Sixers headed into this season with lofty expectations after acquiring George in free agency.

Aside from injuries, the team has appeared too slow and too old. The Sixers addressed that before the trade deadline with the acquisitions of Quentin Grimes from the Dallas Mavericks and Jared Butler from the Washington Wizards.

“We really think that Grimes is going to be a great fit for us with Maxey,” said David Adelman, a Sixers co-owner. “We are excited. Joel came back last week, hadn’t played in two weeks and [notched a] triple double.”

Embiid finished with 29 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists Tuesday against the Mavs after missing 15 games.

“I think when this team is healthy, we can beat everybody in the East,” Adelman said. “Our big three has only played 12 games together.”

While he still thinks the Sixers are a playoff contender, Adelman knows it’s going to be hard. “We are realistic,” he said. “But this team still has fight in them.”

The Sixers announced Sunday that they converted former Imhotep Charter star Justin Edwards’ contract to the standard NBA deal, as sources had told The Inquirer on Saturday.

“I just show that I belong here, honestly,” Edwards said. “Like nothing really changed. You know, it was just my work ethic and the way I approach the game. So it’s really about it, honestly.”

The 21-year-old also will have his high school jersey retired at Imhotep on Thursday. He’ll become the first player in the school’s storied basketball history to have his jersey retired.

At Imhotep, Edwards, who grew up in the Frankford and Uptown sections of Philly, was ranked as the nation’s third-best prospect in the Class of 2023.

“I feel like it just shows all the hard work put in to deserve my jersey to get retired for one,” he said. “Like a lot of great guys went through Imhotep, B.A. [Brandon Austin], Fatts [Russell], all those guys. So to get my jersey retired means a lot.”

The Sixers will sign David Roddy to a 10-day contract, a source confirmed. They selected the power forward with the 23rd pick in the 2022 NBA draft and shipped him and Danny Green to the Memphis Grizzlies for De’Anthony Melton.

Roddy averaged 4.5 points and 2.6 rebounds in the 27 games this season with the Atlanta Hawks before being waived on Thursday.

Staff writer Gabriela Carroll contributed to this story.