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Many considered the Philadelphia 76ers to be one of the biggest winners of the 2024 NBA offseason when they pulled off the major Paul George signing — making the nine-time All-Star their de facto Tobias Harris replacement. However, George never really got going in a 76ers uniform last season. He injured his knee during preseason and struggled en route to his worst season since coming back from the leg injury he suffered in 2014.
Now, George has had such a long track record of productive basketball that a few pegged him as a potential bounce-back candidate for the 2025-26 season. But wear and tear seems to be catching up to the 35-year-old forward. Around two weeks ago, George injured his left knee during a workout and had to go arthroscopic surgery to help him recover.
Considering how the 76ers are already navigating the murky waters of Joel Embiid and his persistent injury troubles, George's latest injury only serves to make matters worse for Philadelphia. While the 76ers aren't approaching “blow it up” territory quite yet, they may have no choice but to face the music if these injuries continue to plague their best players.
If anyone, George should be the first to go from the 76ers in such an event. Nevertheless, George's age, declining play, and contract would make him rather impossible to trade — especially if the injury bug continues to gnaw at him.
In the event of a doomsday scenario, it might behoove the 76ers to put Embiid on the trade market — hoping that a team out there would bet on his raw talent.
With that said, here are a two trades the 76ers must consider if they decide to end the Embiid era on a whimper.
76ers get the Spurs to bet on a risky future
76ers trade: Joel Embiid
Spurs trade: Devin Vassell, Harrison Barnes, Jeremy Sochan, three first-round picks (2027 ATL first-round pick, 2029 and 2031 SAS first-round pick)
Make no mistake about it, there is no way the San Antonio Spurs will agree to this trade. There is no universe where the Spurs will decide to give up all of those assets for someone like Embiid, especially not when we live in a universe where they refused to be aggressive in acquiring Kevin Durant — someone who could have fit perfectly for what they're building around Victor Wembanyama and De'Aaron Fox.
But if somehow, Embiid's best self is still in there, then this could be a risk any team — including the Spurs — could talk themselves into. The last time Embiid was healthy, he was dominant; even when he was limping during the 2024 NBA playoffs, he dropped 50 and left it all out on the court.
Embiid is a one of a kind player, a dominant force both with his back to the basket and while facing up. His midrange jumper is perhaps the silkiest in the league outside of Durant's and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's, and he's a self-sufficient scorer, not requiring his teammates to spoonfeed him easy buckets.
There's a reason Embiid won the 2022-23 NBA MVP award over Nikola Jokic. While Jokic probably deserved to win the award more, Embiid's resume that season was not too shabby. He averaged 33.1 points, 10.2 rebounds, and 4.2 assists per game during his MVP campaign, and then somehow was better than that the following year before he injured his knee — putting up 34.7 points, 11.0 rebounds, and 5.6 dimes per night.
And perhaps most importantly, Embiid is a force to be reckoned with on defense. He has mastered the art of positioning and timing, that even with his declining mobility, he remains a fierce rim-protector.
A frontcourt of Embiid and Wembanyama would be so terrifying to deal with. Wembanyama has the range and mobility to be a pest on defense every which way, while Embiid can be parked closer to the basket and deal with the bigger post brutes that could give Wemby trouble.
Skilled size reigns supreme in the NBA, and having two of the best centers in the NBA would make the Spurs an unstoppable force.
But all of this is moot if Embiid cannot stay healthy. And that is very likely, considering that he played in just 19 games last season, struggled big time (averaging just 23.8 points and 8.5 rebounds on 44/30/88 shooting splits), and underwent even more surgeries on his knee to try and ease the pain.
For the 76ers, this package won't be enough if Embiid was guaranteed to return to MVP form. But such a guarantee doesn't exist. Devin Vassell would be a nice secondary ballhandler to have alongside Tyrese Maxey, Jared McCain, and VJ Edgecombe, and he could form a solid duo on the wing with George, should he return to form.
Jeremy Sochan is a swiss-army knife who fits in any lineup (so long as the lineup has floor-spacers), while Harrison Barnes is a veteran combo forward who provides the perfect complementary skillset.
The first-round picks may not have much value considering how the Spurs are built to compete for the long haul. But trading away a franchise cornerstone is supposed to bring back a plethora of assets (the Dallas Mavericks would disagree), and this should be the minimum number of picks they acquire in any Embiid trade.
Nets get their franchise star
76ers trade: Joel Embiid
Nets trade: Nicolas Claxton, Cam Thomas (sign-and-trade), Danny Wolf, Jalen Wilson, 2026, 2028, 2030 BKN first-round picks, three second-round picks
This package for the 76ers is on the lighter side in terms of player return; Claxton is a starting-caliber player, a classic rim-running lob threat who can swat shots, but his inability to space the floor caps his ceiling as a contributor to a winning team.
Thomas is one of the best pure scorers in the NBA, but on a team with Maxey, McCain, and (presumably) Quentin Grimes on it, Thomas appears to be an unnecessary piece. Point blank, the 76ers don't need a player like Thomas.
Danny Wolf is a late first-rounder in 2025 and Jalen Wilson has shown some promise as a bench contributor, but no one is expecting them to be needle-moving pieces anytime soon.
The real return here lies in the first-round picks. The 76ers are betting (smartly) that the Nets will struggle for the next few seasons, with Embiid's health or lack thereof perhaps dragging the team down.
But what makes the Nets perhaps more inclined to do this trade more than most is the fact that they are lacking a franchise cornerstone at the moment. They do not have someone to build around; they are still searching for that superstar whom they can mold the team around. Embiid is in real danger of no longer being the player he once was, but his upside might be too tantalizing for a talent-starved team like the Nets to pass up on.
But at the end of the day, if this is the package available on the market for Embiid, the 76ers might be better off just keeping the former MVP. Giving up on Embiid means giving up on the possibility that he bounces back. Is that worth it to bring in this kind of package, which brings even more uncertainty to the table?
For now, the 76ers' best move is to stand pat and let things play out with Embiid. Maybe an early end to the 2024-25 season and a lengthy rehab would be enough to facilitate a redemption season. Nevertheless, the 76ers will have to think long and hard about their future, with Embiid getting up there in age and his knees simply being unable to sustain the kind of load he incurs by playing his style of ball.
