What a time it is to be a sports fan in the City of Brotherly Love.
The Philadelphia Phillies are set to embark on another season with championship hopes. The Philadelphia Flyers have one of the NHL’s best rookies in Matvei Michkov as they look to make a late playoff push. The Philadelphia 76ers are in a bit of a down year, but they are still drawing headlines as they’ll look to retool their roster in the coming months.
Oh, and the Philadelphia Eagles just won the Super Bowl less than a month ago. That victory has served as a bright spot for a city that hasn’t seen any titles in the four major sports leagues since their first Super Bowl championship in the 2017 season.
There’s no denying that Philadelphia is one of the top sports markets in the country, but who is the king of the Philly sports scene? Here are our picks for the 10 biggest Philadelphia athletes right now.
10 biggest Philadelphia athletes
Turner’s first few months in Philadelphia weren’t great. He posted a .236 batting average and a sub-.700 OPS in his first four-plus months with the team after signing a $300 million contract ahead of the 2023 season. But Phillies fans might have changed the trajectory of Turner’s time in Philadelphia, giving him a standing ovation when he stepped into the batter’s box for a game in August 2023.
That ovation sparked a 10-game hitting streak for Turner, who has largely produced at a high level since then. He was named an All-Star for the third time of his career in 2024 as he’s regained his spot as one of the best shortstops in baseball.
George’s first season with the 76ers hasn’t gone the way anyone in Philadelphia would’ve liked it to. He’s struggled to remain healthy and live up to his $211 million contract. But it’s tough to dispute George’s stardom. The 34-year-old is a nine-time All-Star and has been regarded as one of the NBA’s top forwards for much of the last dozen years. His signature shoe with Nike has also been a fan favorite.
If those reasons alone aren’t enough to justify George’s spot on this list, just look at the attention his announcement to suspend his podcast garnered last week.
Carter emerged as arguably the NFL’s best interior defensive lineman in 2024, serving as one of the cornerstones of the Eagles’ Super Bowl-winning defense. His box score stats might not pop out (42 total tackles, 4.5 sacks, two forced fumbles), but he had 53 pressures (ninth among defensive tackles) and 22 runs stops (16th among defensive tackles), per Pro Football Focus. He didn’t have a sack in Philadelphia’s Super Bowl win. However, Carter had his heroic moment a few weeks prior when he sacked Matthew Stafford to help seal the Eagles’ divisional-round win over the Los Angeles Rams.
The “Slim Reaper” is just one of the many stars on the Eagles’ roster, but he’s still been able to make a name for himself in Philly. Smith has consistently produced, recording at least 60 receptions and 800 yards in each of his first four seasons in the league. He was also on the receiving end of the touchdown that served as the dagger in the Eagles’ Super Bowl LIX win, hauling a 46-yard deep ball for a score and a 34-0 lead. That actually marked the first Super Bowl touchdown scored by a player who finished their college career at Alabama, further distinguishing Smith.
One of the most enjoyable things an NBA fan can experience is watching a homegrown player blossom into an All-Star. It’s even sweeter when that player was a late first-round pick, like Maxey. The guard went from playing a decent role off the bench as a rookie in 2020-21 to becoming one of the top scorers in the league in 2023-24. Maxey earned his first All-Star nod that year, averaging 25.9 points per game. His scoring has taken a slight step up this year, improving to 26.3 points per game while he’s turned into the focal point for the 76ers offense.
It might not be a coincidence that the Eagles took off as a contender in the same year that Brown arrived in Philly. The three-time Pro Bowler has been one of the most prolific receivers in the league since he was traded from the Tennessee Titans to the Eagles in 2022, recording at least 1,400 receiving yards in each of his first two seasons with the team. Brown’s numbers took a small dip in 2024 as he missed four games due to injury, but he was dominant in the NFC Championship Game win and had a touchdown reception in Super Bowl LIX.
Philly fans seem to have a relationship with Embiid that no other city has with its top NBA player, embracing the 76ers star through the rough seasons of “The Process” and their years as a contender. Embiid repaid them with some of the strongest performances by a player in recent memory, winning MVP in 2023 and averaging nearly 35 points per game in the 2023-24 season. Embiid’s injury issues have flared up again this season, though, causing him to only play in 19 games before being shut down. He’ll likely undergo knee surgery again.
Harper has helped spearhead the Phillies’ return to contention since 2022, living up to the then-record-breaking $330 million deal he received to join the franchise in 2019. He’s consistently been among the best hitters in the National League, winning MVP in 2021 and finishing in the top 10 in OPS on a near-annual basis. Harper’s also been a hero in the postseason, hitting .325 with 12 homers in 34 postseason games with the Phillies. Each of his homers in Citizens Bank Park has brought some pretty electric moments, too.
Not many quarterbacks have been as successful as Hurts over the last three seasons. He might have won MVP in 2022 had he not suffered a late-season injury. He also came just a few points away from winning his first Super Bowl that season, putting up a stellar performance in the loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Two years later, Hurts was able to avenge that loss in a big way. He threw for 221 yards and two touchdowns to go with a rushing score in the blowout victory. As Hurts has already set rushing records for a quarterback in the postseason, he’s also seemingly silenced his critics, who’ve wondered if he’s a good enough passer to get the job done.
When you’re arguably the best player in your respective sport, it’s hard not to be the top player in your city. That’s the case for Barkley, who broke the record for the most total rushing yards in a season (2,504) as he won Offensive Player of the Year and led the Eagles to a Super Bowl title. The Pennsylvania native and former Penn State star also spurned the New York Giants last offseason when he opted to leave them for the Eagles in free agency, cementing his status as a Philly legend.
Honorable mentions
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