The Philadelphia 76ers play host to the Guangzhou Loong Lions (of the Chinese Basketball Association) Tuesday evening in the Sixers’ preseason opener. As of Monday afternoon, all Sixers players are a go — yes, even their 2019 first round draft pick — making this evening’s matchup our first chance to take in the new-look Sixers in an adversarial setting.
The Lions aren’t exactly stiff competition, with their best player being Andrew Nicholson, who last played in the NBA for the Brooklyn Nets in 2017. So the game and its results won’t suffice as a measuring stick for where the Sixers are at in relation to their NBA counterparts.