The Philadelphia 76ers are in the midst of a disastrous season, currently having a 15-27 record as the No. 11 seed in the Eastern Conference. They are in legitimate danger of missing out on the Playoffs if they can’t get their act together, which has been made a major challenge with Joel Embiid’s unavailability.
Embiid has battled minor injuries throughout the year, recently recovering from a foot injury just to be ruled out with knee swelling. ESPN’s Shams Charania revealed that the player and team are due to have a conversation about the future of the season with mounting frustrations as Embiid struggles to stay healthy.
“The team and Joel Embiid will have to have some conversations about health. That’s been the keyword. I said that word yesterday, it has played such a big factor with the Philadelphia 76ers season. The unknowingness of whether he’s going to play on any given night. Even tonight, from what I hear, he remains rehabbing and doing everything he can to get back to the floor. But there have been some frustrations, from my understanding, throughout the year of not having him there.”
Shams referenced that the 76ers don’t want to rush Embiid but are incentivized to figure out what’s wrong so they can pick a direction for the rest of the season.
“He knows his body better than anyone else. There is a level of respect where a player may not feel ready based on how he’s feeling because he knows himself better than anyone else. The way the 76ers season is going, they do have a protected first-round pick this year, so there’s a level of incentive there we have to speak to.”
This is a major development. The 76ers can’t push Embiid to return early, as the center has previously done it willingly just to get sidelined with a worse injury. That’s what led to his meniscus tear last season before he returned early and battled through injuries in the Playoffs.
Embiid is averaging 24.4 points and 7.9 rebounds this season, playing just 13 games.
Minor unavailability of Tyrese Maxey and Paul George has also affected their record, especially with George looking like a shell of his former self after securing a max contract with the 76ers in the summer. The duo isn’t looking like one that can carry the 76ers to success without Embiid this season.
If Embiid is sidelined for more than a week or two, the 76ers will have to consider tanking to somehow keep their top-six protected first-round pick from going to the OKC Thunder. This will be tricky, as the 76ers might already be too far ahead to tank into favorable odds for a top-six pick.
They currently have the eighth-worst record in the NBA and have a lot of ground to make up on the teams below them. The Portland Trail Blazers (15-28), Brooklyn Nets (14-31), Charlotte Hornets (11-29), New Orleans Pelicans (12-32), Toronto Raptors (11-32), Utah Jazz (10-32), and Washington Wizards (6-36) are just as focused on tanking, so the 76ers will struggle to catch up to them.
They just need to fall behind two of those seven teams to secure top-six odds in the lottery. Even that won’t guarantee their pick’s safety, as the lottery could result it in falling down and conveying to the Thunder anyway.
The 76ers are in a sticky situation, but it might be time to shut Embiid down for the season and investigate why he hasn’t been able to heal up. This helps them try and retain their pick and potentially draft a game-changing prospect that can be a long-term franchise cornerstone.
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