We're inching closer to the 2025 NBA Draft Lottery, when the Sixers will find out once and for all if they will enter next month with a top-six pick or no first-rounder at all. But while this organization awaits the results of the lottery, there are still eight teams remaining in the playoffs, which have been absolutely stellar to date.
To change the pace ahead of an important evening, this week's 5 Sixers Thoughts will focus on players around the league who have impressed so far in the playoffs. Some of them have Sixers ties:
Buddy Hield, Golden State Warriors
Hield's brief Sixers tenure was bizarre. He joined the team at the trade deadline and immediately looked like one of its best and most valuable players with an excellent blend of scoring and playmaking. He was doing it without Joel Embiid, who has always made life far easier for long-range snipers of Hield's ilk.
Then things got worse… and worse… and worse. Hield played himself out of the playoff rotation, only for head coach Nick Nurse to call his number in an elimination game. Hield then knocked down five threes in the second quarter alone, helping the Sixers stage a valiant effort. But they came up short, and it was quickly apparent that the veteran sharpshooter had played his last game as a Sixer.
Hield landed with the Golden State Warriors to help replace Klay Thompson, and while there have been ups and downs, the overall results have been very strong. Hield has been outstanding for Golden State in the playoffs, including swinging their Game 7 victory in the first round against the Houston Rockets with a 31-point masterpiece. Somehow, though, Hield has been performing like a strong defender in the playoffs, too:
BUDDY HIELD (25 PTS) MAKING THINGS HAPPEN ON DEFENSE TOO 🚫🚫
Gets the stop at the rim and on the perimeter on back-to-back possessions!!
GSW-HOU | 4Q | Game 7 | TNT pic.twitter.com/I09nuTvsJu— NBA (@NBA) May 5, 2025
Hield has been in the NBA for nearly a decade, and his brief playoff run last season was the first of his professional career. He is almost exclusively adored by teammates and coaches across his recent NBA organizations, and his popularity inside the Warriors' locker room is constantly evident.
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Aaron Gordon, Denver Nuggets
Nobody has been more clutch in the playoffs than Gordon, who has either made the game-winning basket or the game-tying, overtime-forcing basket in three of Denver's six wins.
First, there was his epic game-winning, buzzer-beating dunk to steal a road win against the Los Angeles Clippers in round one:
AARON GORDON WITH THE WILDEST BUZZER BEATER EVER 🚨
NUGGETS WIN pic.twitter.com/2UjLl2rUrF— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) April 27, 2025
Then, Gordon stunned the 68-win Oklahoma City Thunder with a game-winning triple in Game 1 last week:
AARON GORDON 3 FOR THE WIN!!!@nuggets take Game 1 in a THRILLER 🤯 pic.twitter.com/fxV2ReRPZA
— NBA (@NBA) May 6, 2025
And just two games later, Gordon connected from beyond the arc on a game-tying three which forced overtime, as the Nuggets obliterated Oklahoma City for a 2-1 series lead.
AARON GORDON TIES IT UP FOR THE NUGGETS WITH SECONDS TO GO 😱
OVERTIME ON ESPN 🍿 pic.twitter.com/cYIeLnv0Ga— ESPN (@espn) May 10, 2025
Even in Denver's home loss in Game 4, Gordon knocked down a three in the final seconds to give the Nuggets one last gasp. Beyond these clutch moments, Gordon doesn't just represent how much better a player can become when placed in an optimal role, but also one of the greatest examples of skill development in recent NBA history. Gordon being a spot-up shooter of this caliber would have been genuinely unthinkable just a handful of years ago.
Gordon has a bit of a Sixers tie, beyond the fact that he was chosen one spot after the Sixers selected Embiid in the 2014 NBA Draft. His brother, Drew, played nine games for the 2014-15 Sixers, the entirety of his NBA experience. Drew Gordon tragically passed away nearly one year ago in a car accident at 34 years old.
Julius Randle, Minnesota Timberwolves
Everyone has certain players they are fond of and believe in, but Randle has never been that guy for me. His ability to produce offensively has been undeniable for a long time, but so has been his penchant for tunnel vision, ball-stopping, and overall questionable decision-making. For Randle to optimize his own skills he needs the ball quite a bit, but he's not good enough with the ball for a team to win with him as a heliocentric engine.
Randle, whose playoff struggles with the New York Knicks were infamous, is earning a lot of respect – and potentially millions of more dollars – with the playoff run he's on in his first season with the Timberwolves, who have a 2-1 lead over a Warriors team which could be without Stephen Curry for the remainder of the series.
For a player often associated with bad shots, turnovers and bad effort, Randle has been a calming stabilizer for Minnesota's offense. Because of the obvious nature of Anthony Edwards' role atop their hierarchy, though, Randle is safeguarded against falling into his worst habits of hogging the ball. Credit to both Randle and to Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch, who appears to have found the right amount of aggression for the 30-year-old forward.
While it's difficult to imagine Randle ever joining the Sixers for many reasons, I do cover the Sixers, so I will mention here that Randle is one of Embiid's better friends around the NBA.
MORE: Jared McCain will represent Sixers on stage tonight
Tyrese Haliburton, Indiana Pacers
Haliburton didn't have to do much Sunday night as the Pacers absolutely steamrolled the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers in a Game 4 win that gave Indiana its commanding 3-1 series lead. But the Pacers have looked terrific for months, and Haliburton spearheading their dynamic offense is the driving factor behind it.
For the second year in a row, Haliburton torched the Milwaukee Bucks with a game-winning driving bucket in the first round, but this time around he capped off a miraculous comeback in the final minute and ended the series:
TYRESE HALIBURTON GAME WINNER 🚨
HE SENDS THE BUCKS HOME IN GAME 5 pic.twitter.com/3M0HO7cg8y— NBA TV (@NBATV) April 30, 2025
But in Game 2 against Cleveland, Haliburton hit an even bigger shot to complete an even more improbable come-from-behind victory:
TYRESE HALIBURTON WINS GAME 2 FOR THE PACERS 😱🤯
WHAT. A. WILD. PLAY. pic.twitter.com/rFsjZmtrBz— NBA (@NBA) May 7, 2025
A lot has been made of Haliburton being voted as the most overrated player in the NBA in The Athletic's anonymous player survey. But he's a player whose box score numbers have always underrated his impact on winning. Haliburton's ability to engineer offense with crisp passing, sound decision-making and pull-up shooting is not properly reflected by his 18.6 points and 9.2 assists per game, for example, even though those numbers are already impressive.
Of course, many around these parts will recall the very loud rumors that the Sacramento Kings were willing to trade Haliburton to the Sixers as the lead asset in a Ben Simmons trade package many years ago. The Sixers didn't make that move, instead waiting it out and eventually trading Simmons to the Brooklyn Nets to land James Harden.
Andrew Nembhard, Indiana Pacers
Haliburton's backcourt partner, the 25-year-old Nembhard, is one of the more interesting players to watch in the NBA right now – especially because the playoffs are underway. Nembhard is stepping up in a major way during the Pacers' playoff run once again, and despite not looking like someone who can impose their will on the game defensively, Nembhard routinely does just that:
Nembhard made this rotation from the back-court.
Ridiculous. pic.twitter.com/Sxz5Pa8bR8— Caitlin Cooper (@C2_Cooper) April 30, 2025
It feels like every time the Pacers need a critical stop or takeaway, it's Nembhard providing it. And despite a major down season as a shooter, he has come up with a fair share of clutch buckets for the Pacers over the last few years, too.
Indiana has its backcourt of the present and future locked in, while Pascal Siakam has added an important layer of optionality to their offense. Mainstay Myles Turner is the prototypical shot-blocking, floor-spacing center and – most importantly – Indiana has terrific depth. It has all coalesced into the team being one win away from their second straight Eastern Conference Finals appearance.
MORE: Sixers mock draft roundup 3.0
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