The NBA gave the Portland Trail Blazers the honor of being the first Western Conference team that LeBron James and the Sixers will go up against in the 2026-27 regular season. It won't happen until Nov. 23, Philadelphia's 18th game of the season, which marks the end of a Blazers road trip and the conclusion of the team's first East Coast trip of the year.
It'd be a confidence boost for Portland to not only take down Philadelphia after all of the offseason chatter surrounding the Sixers' moves, but to be the first team in the conference to do so.
The game will happen two days after the Trail Blazers visit the Knicks at MSG, and depending on how that goes, they could especially use a win before returning to Moda Center to take on Victor Wembanyama and San Antonio on Nov. 25.
Portland will be the first Western Conference team Philly plays
The Trail Blazers will be going through a transition period with Damian Lillard and Ja Morant learning how to play together and adjusting how to play alongside other players, like Deni Avdija, who got used to being the star of the show. They'll have some growing pains, but that's expected.
The same goes for the Sixers, but they're dealing with quite a bit more than the Trail Blazers. LeBron, Jaylen Brown, Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, and Joel Embiid all like to operate with the ball, but there's only one to go around. Nick Nurse has his work cut out for him.
It could take quite some time for them to acclimate to each other as they establish who will play what role (and how that will change on a nightly basis), which might be why the NBA gave them a more favorable schedule, from fewer back-to-backs to the fewest number of three games in four days to waiting to dive into the West, starting with Portland, which could be viewed as an "easier matchup."
By the time Portland travels to Philadelphia, a month into the start of the season, the Sixers could still be in the midst of a slow start, something the Trail Blazers can capitalize on by pulling out a win, every one of which will matter as they look to return to the playoffs. And, of course, it'd be nice to beat Brown, too, since the Blazers were linked to him this summer, but opted not to go for it.
Talk about a statement win. Let's hope the vibes will be high on the flight back to PDX from Philadelphia.
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