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The 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers are found in the NBA history books for the wrong reason. They finished their campaign with a 9-73 record, the worst in any non-shortened season in league history. The team was so bad that Philly fans called them the “Nine and 73-ers.”
ESPN’s Anthony Olivieri interviewed some members of that team. John Block, who only played half a season in Philadelphia, narrated a sequence that showed how bad it was during that time.
Block mentioned a teammate named John Trapp nonchalantly asking him:
“Hey, want any of my Coke?”
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One of their teammates emphatically and quickly cautioned Block not to get even a sip. Inside the cup, they later found out, was bourbon and Coke.
John Trapp was part of the 1972 NBA champs, the Lakers before he was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers. In Philly, the 76ers suspended him for missing practices. During the said incident where he offered John Block a Coke, Trapp didn’t even take off his warmup jacket as he watched Philadelphia getting clobbered.
The Sixers were just a few seasons removed from winning an NBA championship in the 1966-67 season. Philly was led by the iconic Wilt Chamberlain, Hal Greer, Chet Walker and Billy Cunningham. They finished that campaign with a 68-13 record.
After the 1967-68 season, “The Big Dipper” took his talents to Hollywood, leaving Greer, Walker and Cunningham to lead the team. Walker and Cunningham left before that infamous 9-73 team came about. Only Greer was around to live through the decay of what was once a proud team.
The following season, the 76ers retooled the roster. Hal Greer retired, while John Trapp and John Block played elsewhere. Trapp went to the Denver Rockets in the ABA before retiring. Block, meanwhile, was traded to Kansas City-Omaha Kings.
The closest version of the Philadelphia 76ers that came close to tying that humiliating record was the 2015-16 team. They had Jahlil Okafor as their top scorer. Ish Smith, Robert Covington and Nerlens Noel also had significant roles for coach Brett Brown.
It was no secret that the 76ers were in the middle of “The Process” of tanking to land Joel Embiid.
The Philadelphia 76ers have not won the NBA championship since 1983
Since moving to Philadelphia in 1963, the Warriors, later to be called the 76ers, have won the NBA championship just twice. Wilt Chamberlain, Hal Greer and Billy Cunningham led the team to the 1967 title.
In 1983, the Philadelphia 76ers won the championship again behind Moses Malone, Julius Erving, Andrew Toney, Mo Cheeks and Bobby Jones. They swept the star-studded “Showtime Lakers” that was led by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson.
Since then, they haven’t had much playoff success to show for. The tanking to get Joel Embiid hasn’t worked out as planned. He is the reigning NBA MVP, but his team has been a failure in the postseason.
The 76ers have made the playoffs in each of Embiid’s healthy seasons but the farthest they’ve reached is the Eastern Conference semifinals. Philly was the top-seeded team in 2021 when it faced the Atlanta Hawks in the second round of the playoffs.
Trae Young played the spoiler and sent Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers home in seven games. It marked the end of the Embiid and Ben Simmons partnership.
