With five games left in a miserable season, the Sixers took to the Wells Fargo Center floor on Saturday evening prepared to face a potential sleeping giant in the Western Conference: a Minnesota Timberwolves team firing on all cylinders as they prepare to try to exceed their lengthy playoff run from last season.
The final result was predictable, as the Sixers fell to Anthony Edwards and the Timberwolves, 114-109, despite a valiant effort which kept them within arm’s reach for the entirety of the game. Perhaps the story of the night was Edwards throwing down a tremendous poster slam:
— . (@dphoop2425) April 5, 2025
Here is what stood out from this game on the Sixers’ end, with notes on all 10 players available:
Thoughts on all 10 available Sixers
The Sixers had 10 players available on Saturday. Let’s talk about every single one of them, with a blend of in-game observations and bigger-picture thoughts:
• Jared Butler: The most significant point of emphasis for Butler since arriving in Philadelphia has been becoming a more aggressive three-point shooter. Defenses go under screens when Butler handles the ball, daring him to take threes. As Butler and Sixers head coach Nick Nurse have spoken about, there is not an internal belief that he is a poor shooter. He just has to prove it.
Butler struggled mightily from beyond the arc during the first five games of the Sixers’ six-game road trip last month, but found a rhythm in the final game of the swing. In five games after that, Butler shot 15-for-27 from beyond the arc, combining excellent efficiency with the sort of volume he has never carried ion his career:
Jared Butler knocked down all four of his three-point attempts against Miami on Sunday.
Butler is now 11-18 from beyond the arc in his last three games. In the month of March, he has shot 37.1 percent from three-point range on 4.7 attempts per game. pic.twitter.com/Lt4xL8RawD
— Adam Aaronson’s clips (@SixersAdamClips) March 30, 2025
Butler has done it with a nice mix of spot-up shooting — often wisely spacing to the corners in transition — and pull-ups when defenses give him space.
MORE: Butler talks shooting evolution, next steps
• Quentin Grimes: There is not much left to be said about Grimes at this point, though it did seem as if he was understandably starting to lose steam. But Grimes had a rough first half before emerging with a major scoring run in the second half that nearly won the Sixers this game. For a player who has not been the focal point of an offense in more than a half-decade, Grimes has assumed a massive scoring workload over the last two months after his life was uprooted by his traded from Dallas to Philadelphia. Grimes has consistently expressed gratitude for the opportunity to prove he is far more than just a spot-up shooter and perimeter defensive asset, and it could be a massively beneficial development for him with restricted free agency coming up this summer.
• Justin Edwards: While Grimes appears to be grappling with some issues stemming from general fatigue, Justin Edwards has clearly been laboring through actual ailments of late. It is nothing horribly serious; the 21-year-old undrafted rookie has been able to play heavy minutes for much of the last several weeks despite not being at 100 percent. But for someone who is not incredibly athletic or explosive to begin with, Justin Edwards’ nagging ankle injury — which initially popped up at the team’s first practice after the All-Star break and has never quite subsided — has made it harder for him to get to the spots he likes with the ball in his hands. And on Saturday, the hometown product checked out of the game within five minutes and retreated to the locker room to tend to some sort of injury. He ended up returning by the end of the opening frame, but at halftime the Sixers ruled him out for the remainder of the game due to a rib contusion. Nurse is an adamant believer that these minutes will prove to be incredibly valuable for the diamond found in the rough; how far will the Sixers push him with only four more games left to play?
• Guerschon Yabusele: Yabusele had a dime to the returning Marcus Bagley for a dunk off a back-door cut in the second quarter on Saturday, and in a season in which his three-point shooting and toughness have (rightfully) received much of the publicity, perhaps Yabusele’s excellent passing chops have gone underappreciated. In an offense that figures to be largely centered around players who frequently command double-teams for years to come, Yabusele’s quick decision-making in 4-on-3 situations will be a real asset moving forward if the Sixers can retain him.
• Adem Bona: Bona showed all of the flashes of promise anyone needed to see on Thursday night against Giannis Antetokoumpo and the Milwaukee Bucks, displaying his tantalizing package of athletic traits and on-court skills. And while Bona has drastically cut down his foul rates which were comically large earlier in the season, the Sixers’ second-round rookie remains liable to find himself in foul trouble. He was whistled for five personals on Thursday, though most of those came against Antetokounmpo. He spent the entire first half in foul trouble on Saturday, picking up two early personals and then having to head back to the bench early in the second quarter when he was called for his third foul. Bona has clearly made major strides when it comes to
• Jalen Hood-Schifino: The Sixers’ two-way roster gymnastics continued on Saturday, as the team safeguards its dwindling number of remaining available days for Hood-Schifino, Jeff Dowtin Jr. and Alex Reese. For the second game in a row, the Sixers made Hood-Schifino active while Dowtin and Reese did not dress. With four games left in the season, Dowtin can suit up twice more, while Hood-Schifino and Reese each have three games of eligibility remaining.
• Lonnie Walker IV: For someone who was not even putting up particularly enticing numbers in Lithuania, Walker’s play for the Sixers has been a pleasant surprise. Nobody doubted that he was capable of heating up on any given night — and that in itself is a valuable skill — but he has been far more consistent as an offensive threat than expected. Walker has a $2.9 million team option for next year that the Sixers are likely to decline, at least for financial purposes. The Reading, PA native is not doing a bad job of building his case that he is worth re-signing this summer.
MORE: Predicting Sixers’ team/player options, including Walker, Edwards, Kelly Oubre Jr.
• Ricky Council IV: Where Council stands heading into 2025-26 is unclear, other than that there will be a lot less external excitement about him heading into training camp next October than there was last October. Council’s sophomore NBA campaign has been underwhelming and disappointing; by his own admission he has not been able to accomplish his primary goal of proving he deserves rotation minutes every night. Council has had a few standout performances, but many more head-scratching ones. Council’s salary for next season is non-guaranteed, but at such a small number — $2,221,677 — it would take tremendous conviction that Council no longer fits as a prospect worth investing time into in order to waive him. But, then again, not only did Council lose his starting spot on this depleted version of the Sixers, but he was clearly the 10th man on Saturday.
• Marcus Bagley: Bagley was brought back on his second 10-day contract with the Sixers on Saturday afternoon, which enables him to finish the season with the team. Nurse gave a positive endorsement of Bagley when asked about him hours later.
“First of all, I’m really happy for him,” Nurse said. “I think he earned it. We could’ve done some other things and we had some other players — we actually did look at one or two other guys in the last couple days. But how did he earn it? He just played really hard all his minutes. He probably would say this too, I don’t think he’s played great, but his effort’s been great. He’s really worked hard on defense. He’s on the glass, he’s playing physical, he’s trying to guard.”
Nurse does not think Bagley is necessarily far away from being a more significant NBA prospect.
“If he starts throwing in a couple of these threes… just some perimeter game,” Nurse said. “If he can show it, which he started to with the [Delaware Blue Coats] a little bit, then all of a sudden you’re thinking, ‘okay, now you’ve got a guy who can rebound maybe above his height or position a little bit and now he can provide you with a little bit of offense.’ Then you’ve got to start taking a little more serious look at him.”
• Colin Castleton: Nurse was also asked before the game about Castleton, who signed his own 10-day deal hours before the Sixers and Bucks tipped off on Thursday night. Nurse said Castleton needs more time to settle in, but he appreciated Castleton’s effort and physicality on the glass among other things.
The next step for the 24-year-old, according to Nurse: developing an outside shot. Castleton has only made two triples in the NBA, but Nurse is encouraging him to fire away if he catches the ball beyond the arc and defenses leave him wide open.
Up next: The Sixers will now embark on their final road trip of the year, a two-game swing which begins on Monday night when they face the Miami Heat.
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