Philadelphia sports fans have been celebrating the Eagles’ Super Bowl win, the team’s first since 2018. One added benefit to that Lombardi Trophy is that it has allowed the Phillies to ignore the 76ers, who have been arguably the biggest dumpster fire in the NBA this season.
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The Sixers had high hopes after acquiring Paul George during the offseason. But the veteran forward’s ineffectiveness, combined with injuries to Joel Embiid and rookie Jared McCain, have dented their chances. At 22-41, they now sit 3.5 games behind the Chicago Bulls for the 10th seed and the final play-in spot.
The biggest reason behind the Sixers’ struggles has been Embiid’s inability to stay on the court. He’s played only 19 games this season and was recently ruled out for the year with lingering knee issues. Even when Embiid has played, it hasn’t helped the Sixers much. Philadelphia has gone 8-11 in the 19 games with Embiid on the court.
The situation is even more catastrophic than just one bad season, though. The Sixers made the awful decision to hand the former MVP a three-year, $193 million extension in September. This despite Embiid already being under contract and not being healthy at the time.
And to think of it, Embiid played for Team USA at the Paris Olympics while not being fully healthy. Shannon Sharpe brought this up while talking to Chad Johnson about the center on last night’s episode of Nightcap.
“He did that [played at the Olympics] because he knows his money is guaranteed, so it doesn’t matter. It’s kind of like a salaried worker. They take PTO. Well if you’re not a salaried worker and you only get paid if your black ass shows up to work, that changes things,” said the NFL legend.
Things look bleak for 76ers with the Embiid situation
Sharpe’s take is spot-on. It’s admirable that Embiid wanted to play for his adopted country, and he did help Team USA win Olympic gold. But it came at a tremendous cost to him and the team that’s paying him so much money.
Embiid has missed nearly half of all Sixers games since he was drafted by the team in 2014. Sixers fans went through the process for this? Just over a decade after being one of the bleakest franchises in pro sports, the Sixers aren’t far off from regaining that ignominious distinction.
To make matters worse, the franchise will have to give up their first-round draft pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder if they don’t land in the top six. It’s a very real possibility, since Philly currently owns the seventh-worst record in the league.
And they could be jumped anyway if the lottery ping pong balls turn out bad. Sixers fans may have suffered through this year for nothing at all.
Philadelphia could attempt to force Embiid into medical retirement if he’s unable to play a year from now. The move would allow them to strike Embiid’s salary from their cap, freeing themselves up to build the team in other ways. They would still be on the hook to pay him, however.
It’s tremendously sad that a player who, just two years after winning the MVP award, could be on the verge of exiting the league. But history has shown that 7-footers with injury histories don’t tend to age gracefully. Hopefully Embiid can get back to full strength, but the Sixers need to prepare for life without him if he can’t.
