Things aren’t looking good for the Philadelphia 76ers to start the 2024-2025 season on a high note. With five defeats in just six games so far, the team is already having to catch up with the competition, although they will still have to wait before they can finally get their full roster back.

However, it is still far too early to really panic. The 76ers haven’t had a forgiving schedule thus far, and injuries to their stars haven’t helped either. Still, there are already some patterns emerging from these first six games, something that Nick Nurse and the coaching staff should use to make sustainable adjustments to the lineup.

Here are three lineup changes the team should seriously consider.

Caleb Martin, one of the new faces on the team, needed just one game to convince the coaching staff to put him in the starting lineup. However, since an impressive first outing, he has become quite forgettable, especially in attack. Until now he was one of the worst shooters in the NBA, sinking just 18.8 percent of his three-pointers and shooting a putrid 32.7 percent overall.

The problem is that Martin uses far too many minutes at 34.5 minutes per night. While this is likely done out of necessity, the 76ers need to chip away at some of his minutes and give them the opportunity to get some more scoring help, especially with the team ranked 26th in offensive rating.

Guerschon Yabusele was an absolute standout for the 76ers in his NBA comeback act. Despite playing out of position out of necessity, he has been able to hold his own as an undersized center, displaying the trademark physicality that defined his game in Europe. On the offensive side, though, he was even more impressive as a smooth scoring option in the frontcourt.

Joel Embiid’s impending return should completely erase his minutes at center unless absolutely necessary, but that doesn’t mean he should be taken out of the rotation. In fact, the 76ers coaching staff should continue to give him minutes and play him even more, given the team’s lack of natural strength to battle it out against stout opponents.

Eric Gordon has been pretty average so far, but his minutes have been undeniably forgettable for the most part. Sure, he’ll hit a three-pointer here and there, but other than that he doesn’t really offer much to the team elsewhere, and his immediate relegation to the bench shows just that.

But instead of continuing to give him significant minutes, Nurse should explore turning to his young guns to man his role moving forward. Jared McCain has logged just 11.2 minutes per game while Ricky Council has averaged just seven minutes per game so far, and both players arguably possess more robust skill sets that can help the 76ers in the present and also build them for the future .