Through five games of action in the 2026-27 NBA season, the Philadelphia 76ers are tied for the best record in the Eastern Conference at 4-1. Their only loss came on the second night of a back-to-back when they were missing two starters.

So, it's been an auspicious start for a Sixers team that entered the season with some extremely lofty expectations. But, while they've been able to pull out wins, it hasn't always been pretty, and some obvious areas of improvement have emerged.

Here's a look at three early-season concerns for the 76ers after their first handful of games.

1. Bench scoring

Through five games of action, the 76ers are dead last in the NBA in bench points per game with 19. This obviously isn't ideal. Sure, the Sixers have a ton of talent and firepower in the starting five, and they'll go only as far as their stars can take them. But, even the most talented starting units need some support from the reserves over the course of an 82-game season.

The Sixers don't have to have the most potent bench in the league, but they need guys who can come in and take some of the scoring load off of the starters, just like Anfernee Simons did in the fifth game of the season against the Indiana Pacers.

As a reserve, Simons knocked down six three-pointers and scored 20 points in the game. His production helped keep Philly afloat while the starters were struggling. Philadelphia will need more performances like that from Simons, but they'll also need some other guys to produce off of the pine.

Nick Nurse is known as a guy who likes to play his starters a lot, and that's been the case so far this season. The Sixers' starters have logged more minutes than any other team's first five, while the bench unit has logged the fewest minutes league-wise. Moving forward, Nurse would be well-served to strike a bit better of a balance between playing time for his starters and reserves.

2. Three-point shooting

Philadelphia's three-point shooting has left something to be desired through the first week-plus of the season.

As a team, the Sixers are shooting just 32.6 percent from long range, which is near the bottom third of the league. The starters, especially, have been struggling for Philly, converting just 31.1 percent of their triple attempts as a unit, which ranks 21st league-wide. The bench has been a bit better, as Philadelphia's reserves are shooting 35.8 percent as a unit.

Individually, the Sixers have three players who are shooting above 40 percent from long range: Dean Wade (42 percent), Jaylen Brown (40) and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (40), which is solid. But, every other player on the roster is shooting 35 percent or below. It's not time to panic, as the Sixers have a plethora of capable shooters on the roster, so one would imagine that the collectively shooting will improve as the season wears on.

So far, the Sixers have been able to overcome their poor shooting from beyond the arc to win games, but that might not always be the case.

3. Offensive rebounding disparity

The 76ers have struggled on the glass this season, on both ends of the floor. As a team, they're grabbing just nine offensive rebounds per performance, which is the second-lowest total in the entire league, ahead of only the Washington Wizards.

By not securing more offensive rebounds, the Sixers are robbing themselves of second-chance opportunities. They're scoring just 12.8 second-chance points per game on the season, which ranks 28th out of 30 teams. Only the two L.A. teams are scoring fewer second chance points than the Sixers.

On the other side of the floor, the Sixers are allowing opponents to grab 13.8 offensive rebounds a game, which is the fourth-highest total in the league. This has afforded opponents additional scoring opportunities that the Sixers aren't generating for themselves, which isn't a recipe for success.

The Sixers aren't a huge team, so moving forward it will take a conserted effort from the entire roster for the team to improve on the offensive glass, both in terms of generating more second-chance opportunies for themselves, and limiting offensive boards for opponents.