Getty Ben Simmons following a game on December 31, 2017.
Despite leading the NBA’s Eastern Conference with a 25-12 mark entering Friday and featuring a pair of All-Stars in their starting five, the Philadelphia 76ers are a modest fifth in the league’s team merchandise jersey sales. Results are based on NBAStore.com sales for the first half of the season and were released on Thursday.
The defending NBA-champion Los Angeles Lakers are first in the league, while the star-studded Brooklyn Nets, Stephen Curry-led Golden State Warriors, and Sixers-rival Boston Celtics all place ahead of Philadelphia at second through fourth respectively.
The Miami Heat, Chicago Bulls, Dallas Mavericks, Toronto Raptors, and Milwaukee Bucks round out the top-10. Inside the top-10 are all five of the East’s top seeds, but the West’s top two squads by record in the Utah Jazz and Phoenix Suns are nowhere to be seen.
Additionally, the fourth-place Los Angeles Clippers and fifth-place Denver Nuggets didn’t make the cut.
No Sixers Players Make Top-15 for Most Popular Jerseys
GettyShake Milton during Media Day in 2019
Not only does coach Doc Rivers’ bunch have two All-Stars in Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid, but the duo are arguably the frontrunners for the Defensive Player of the Year and Most Valuable Player awards respectively. The top-nine players in jersey sales are all on teams represented in the list of top team merchandise numbers, including LeBron James in first, Luka Dončić in second, Curry in fourth, Giannis Antetokounmpo fifth, and Anthony Davis and Jayson Tatum in the seventh and eighth spots.
The Nets have all members of their big three represented by way of Kevin Durant at three, Kyrie Irving at six, and James Harden in ninth. Second-year sensation Zion Williamson is 10th.
The 11th through 15th spots are occupied by Jimmy Butler, Damian Lillard, Kawhi Leonard, Trae Young, and Russell Westbrook.
Through the first few months of last year’s pandemic-altered season, the Sixers were third – behind only the Lakers and Celtics – in team sales, and both Simmons and Embiid were in the top-11 for individual players. Embiid was placed ninth, while Simmons was 11th.
Things Mighty Different in Canada
Also released Thursday were NBA jersey and merchandise figures for our neighbors to the north, and there are many differences. Unsurprisingly, the Raptors were much more well represented, as Kyle Lowry – one of the Sixers’ primary trade targets – was number one in player sales, while backcourt mate Fred VanVleet was second.
Durant comes in at third, while another Raptors star in Pascal Siakam was fourth. The remaining members of the top-10 in Canada were all top-15 players in the U.S. figures, and also did not feature any Sixers.
For team merchandise, only the top five organizations were mentioned, but Philadelphia was not among them. The top-five included the Raptors, Lakers, Warriors, Nets, and Bucks.
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