Philadelphia 76ers Trivia
0Loading crowd target
0Loading crowd target
7correct to beat the crowd
50 free Philadelphia 76ers trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This 76ers trivia quiz covers the whole history of the franchise, from Danny Biasone's Syracuse Nationals and the 24-second shot clock they helped invent to Wilt Chamberlain's 68-13 juggernaut, the 9-73 disaster of 1972-73, Julius Erving's arrival, Moses Malone's Fo' Fo' Fo' and the 1983 sweep, Charles Barkley, Allen Iverson's step over Tyronn Lue, Sam Hinkie's Process, Joel Embiid's MVP and the Ben Simmons dunk that wasn't. There are questions on the arenas (the Palestra, the Spectrum, the building now called Xfinity Mobile Arena), the mascots (Big Shot, Hip Hop the rabbit, Franklin the Dog), the name-the-team contest, the trades fans still argue about, and the Boston Strangler. Easy ones for anyone who watched Iverson, hard ones for people who remember Roy Rubin. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the team, its seasons and its players, and each question quotes the sentence that supports it, so trivia-night disputes can be settled with a source.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Before moving to Philadelphia in 1963, the franchise played in which New York city?
Syracuse
Syracuse had the Nationals for 17 years and saw them win one NBA title, in 1955. Two Philadelphia investors bought the club in 1963 to fill the gap left when their city's first NBA team went west.
Q 02Nationals owner Danny Biasone is credited with proposing which NBA rule change in 1954?
The 24-second shot clock
The 24-second shot clock came from his arithmetic: he reckoned a good game had about 60 shots a team and divided the playing time to match. Scoring rose by about 14 points a game in its first season.
Q 03Whose four-bounce buzzer-beater knocked the 76ers out of the 2019 playoffs in Game 7 at Toronto?
Kawhi Leonard
Kawhi Leonard's shot from the corner hit the rim four times before it dropped for a 92-90 win. His Raptors went on to win the championship a month later.
Q 04How was the name '76ers' chosen after the move to Philadelphia?
A fan contest
A fan contest produced the name. The winning entry pointed to 1776 and the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia, and the team soon adopted the shorter 'Sixers' as well.
Q 05Which NBA team had left Philadelphia a year before the Nationals arrived?
The Warriors
The Warriors took their star center west to San Francisco in 1962. Less than three years later he was traded back to his home town, this time to play for the 76ers.
Q 06In their early Philadelphia years, the 76ers sometimes played at which Penn arena?
The Palestra
Most home games were at the Philadelphia Arena and Civic Center-Convention Hall; Dolph Schayes was player-coach that first year.
Q 07Which Philadelphia high school did Wilt Chamberlain attend before his pro career?
Overbrook
Overbrook went 56-3 in his three varsity seasons. It was there that a local sportswriter named him 'Wilt the Stilt', a nickname he detested; he preferred 'the Big Dipper'.
Q 08The 1966-67 76ers ended which team's run of eight straight NBA titles?
Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics fell in five games in the division finals. Wilt Chamberlain had been asked by his coach to shoot less and pass more that season, and he won his first title for it.
Q 09Which coach led the 1966-67 76ers to the NBA title?
Alex Hannum
Alex Hannum made a habit of it. He had already won the 1958 title with the St. Louis Hawks, and two years after Philadelphia he took the Oakland Oaks from last place to the ABA championship.
Q 10Which arena became the 76ers' new home in the 1967-68 season?
The Spectrum
The Spectrum was in its first season when a storm tore part of its roof off in March 1968 and shut it for a month. Its hockey team, the Flyers, had to finish the regular season on the road.
Q 11What record did the 1972-73 76ers post, then the worst in NBA history?
9–73
9–73 it was. They lost their first 15 games, the coach was fired at 4–47, and their best player had left for the rival ABA on the day that coach was hired.
Q 12How did the 76ers find head coach Roy Rubin for the 1972-73 season?
Through a newspaper ad
Through a newspaper ad: the team advertised the job after Al McGuire and Adolph Rupp had turned it down, and the ad brought them Rubin. He was fired after a 4–47 start.
Q 13In 1976 the 76ers bought Julius Erving's contract from which ABA team for about $3 million?
New York Nets
Q 21Which forward arrived in Philadelphia in 1984-85 and stayed eight years?
Charles Barkley
Charles Barkley came in as the fifth pick of 1984, nicknamed the 'Round Mound of Rebound' and thought too small to play power forward. A year after leaving Philadelphia he was the league's MVP.
Q 22Whom did Cleveland draft with the No. 1 pick it got from Philadelphia in June 1986?
Brad Daugherty
Brad Daugherty gave Cleveland five All-Star seasons. Roy Hinson, the forward Philadelphia took for the pick, was gone again in under three.
Q 23Which word did Allen Iverson keep repeating in a famous 2002 press conference rant?
Practice
Practice was the word. His coach had criticised him for missing team sessions after a first-round playoff exit, and the league's leading scorer replied, 'We talkin' about practice.'
The New York Nets were in a pay dispute with their star and short of cash after the cost of joining the NBA. They sold him just 24 hours before the season opened.
Q 14After losing the 1977 Finals, the 76ers adopted which marketing slogan for 1977-78?
We owe you one
We owe you one turned into a long-running IOU. They lost the next conference finals to Washington and did not win the title they had promised until 1983.
Q 15Which center did the 76ers acquire from Houston before 1982-83 to complete their championship team?
Moses Malone
Moses Malone signed a six-year offer sheet, and Philadelphia sent Caldwell Jones to Houston to seal the deal. In his first season he was the league's MVP and then the MVP of the Finals.
Q 16What did the 76ers' star center mean by predicting 'fo', fo', fo'' before the 1983 playoffs?
Three four-game sweeps
Three four-game sweeps was the forecast, and it came within one game: the only loss of the whole playoff run was to Milwaukee. Fans rewrote the line as 'fo', fi', fo''.
Q 17Whom did the 76ers sweep in the 1983 NBA Finals?
Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers had beaten Philadelphia in the Finals of 1980 and 1982. With a new center in the middle, the 76ers did not let them win a single game this time.
Q 18Which 76er won the NBA's first Sixth Man of the Year award in the 1982-83 title season?
Bobby Jones
Bobby Jones was an All-Star forward who agreed to come off the bench because his coach thought the team was better that way. He stayed a fixture on the league's All-Defensive teams.
Q 19Which 76ers guard was nicknamed 'the Boston Strangler'?
Andrew Toney
Andrew Toney got the name for what he did to the Celtics in the playoffs, above all in Game 7 of the 1982 conference finals. Stress fractures in both feet ended his career at 30.
Q 20Which 76ers center broke two backboards in 1979 and claimed to come from the planet Lovetron?
Darryl Dawkins
Darryl Dawkins broke both backboards with dunks, and the NBA brought in breakaway rims as a result. Stevie Wonder gave him his best-known nickname, Chocolate Thunder.
Q 24At which college did Allen Iverson play for two seasons before the 1996 draft?
Georgetown
Georgetown coach John Thompson offered him a place after he had served four months in a Virginia jail. The governor had granted him clemency, and the conviction was later overturned.
Q 25Which coach, hired in 1997, led the 76ers to the 2001 NBA Finals despite frequent clashes with Allen Iverson?
Larry Brown
Larry Brown left Philadelphia in 2003 and won the NBA title with Detroit the very next season. That gave him championships at both the college and the professional level.
Q 26Which 76er was the Sixth Man of the Year in 2000-01?
Aaron McKie
Aaron McKie was a local, born in Philadelphia and schooled at Temple before a trade brought him home. His award gave one team the MVP, top coach, top defender and top reserve in a single season.
Q 27Which 76er won Defensive Player of the Year in 2000-01?
Dikembe Mutombo
Dikembe Mutombo began that season in Atlanta. Philadelphia traded for him at the February deadline, giving up the injured Theo Ratliff, and he finished it with the award for the fourth time.
Q 28Over which Lakers guard did Allen Iverson famously step after hitting a shot in Game 1 of the 2001 Finals?
Tyronn Lue
Tyronn Lue was guarding him when the shot went in. Philadelphia won that night 107-101 in overtime, and it was the only game the Lakers lost in the series.
Q 29Allen Iverson was known by which nickname?
The Answer
The Answer was often the smallest man on the court, listed at six feet. He still won four scoring titles and was the league's MVP in 2001.
Q 30To which team did the 76ers trade Allen Iverson in December 2006?
Denver Nuggets
The Denver Nuggets paid with Andre Miller, Joe Smith and two first-round picks. Three years later he came back to Philadelphia to play out the last games of his NBA career.