The Philadelphia 76ers, also known as the Sixers, are a professional basketball team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The team was founded in 1946 as the Syracuse Nationals, and they joined the National Basketball Association (NBA) as part of the merger between the NBA and the Basketball Association of America (BAA) in 1949.

The team moved to Philadelphia in 1963 and became the 76ers, taking their name from the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia in 1776. In their first season in Philadelphia, the 76ers won the NBA Championship. The team continued to be successful in the 1960s and 1970s, winning another NBA Championship in 1967 and reaching the finals several times.

In the 1980s, the team struggled, failing to make the playoffs for several seasons. However, in the mid-1980s, the team drafted Charles Barkley, who would become one of the best players in the league. The team made the playoffs several times in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but were unable to advance to the finals.

In 1996, the team acquired Allen Iverson through the NBA draft. Iverson would become one of the best players in the league and led the team to the finals in 2001, where they lost to the Los Angeles Lakers. The team struggled in the early 2000s, but returned to the playoffs in 2010 with the help of Andre Iguodala and Jrue Holiday.