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The Philadelphia 76ers could very likely head into the All-Star break completely outside of the Eastern Conference playoff picture. They should be able to get into the play-in by the end of the regular season thanks to the weaknesses in the teams above them in the standings. But with the latest Joel Embiid news, any chances of a playoff run are running even drier.
As the Sixers lost to the Milwaukee Bucks in an afternoon showdown on Super Bowl Sunday, ESPN's Lisa Salters reported that Embiid believes he needs another surgery and a long rest to fix his left knee. The team is 20-32 in a season that has only seen Embiid play 16 times and, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Keith Pompey, believes he can play as long as his pain and selling are managed. He has faced setbacks in his knee injury recovery three times this season.
Despite the team's many problems and poor record, Sixers brass continues to express confidence. At a Fanatics event in New Orleans ahead of the Super Bowl, 76ers managing partner Josh Harris said that he's “really optimistic” that his team will make a playoff run.
“Listen, we got Joel [Embiid healthy],” Harris said. “When Joel, Tyrese [Maxey], and Paul [George] are all on the court, we are a great team. So we got to keep everyone healthy. In particular, Joel is a warrior. I know he’s fighting through some stuff, and I’m really optimistic that we are going to make a playoff run now.”
Harris' confidence mirrored that of president of basketball operations Daryl Morey, who recognized the 76ers' uphill battle but insisted that the Embiid-Maxey-George trio is good enough to contend for a championship.
“We've made our path to win harder, obviously,” he said. “We're gonna have to fight to probably get in the playoffs and then we're gonna have to fight to beat a very good team in the first round. But we feel like we would've had to play that team at some point to win the title anyway. And we're just focused on [a] championship. I know you have to squint a little but we feel like this group can still do that.”
76ers brass talking big game as playoff chase begins to take shape
On a basic level, a team's owner and lead executive are obviously going to prop the team up when asked about it. Their public comments will almost always be supportive. Still, the degree to which Harris and Morey exude confidence in a playoff run will only make the 76ers' eventual season-ending defeat harder to stomach.
The 76ers have had Maxey healthy for just about the whole season. George has dealt with injuries — and will have to play the stretch run of the regular season with a finger cast — but has still been able to play nearly two-thirds of the season to date. Undrafted rookie Justin Edwards has filled in impressively well for some of his other injured teammates. Yet the Sixers currently have the seventh-worst record in the NBA with two more games until the break.
After watching how poorly they played without Embiid when he went down last season, the 76ers hoped that their offseason moves would enable them to keep playing well when the big man sits out. George's injuries have complicated that goal, though that was a risk Philly should have been well aware of before signing him to a maximum contract. Allocating two max deals to injury-prone players has, unsurprisingly, made it harder to compete night in and night out.
Even in the 16 games George and Maxey have played together without Embiid, the Sixers have a 6-10 record. That winning percentage of 33.3 would amount to about 27 wins over an 82-game schedule. The Big 3 has a net rating of +6.29 together but the duo of Maxey and George sans Embiid has a net rating of -1.92, per PBP Stats.
Embiid may be able to keep playing through his injury but it will most likely harm him in the long run. Jumping back into action roughly two months after his knee operation last season has led to this current situation, where it feels like he'll never recover to the level of comfort he had with his knee before the injury.
The 76ers shutting Embiid down for the rest of the season, if it comes to that, won’t be fun. But what’s even less fun is watching him further damage his knee and running the risk of sustaining other injuries with no real upside. Is it really worth him playing through his persistent knee problems just to be the ninth seed?
The Sixers may not win a title with the trio of Embiid, Maxey and George but they have them all under contract for the next several seasons. This 2024-25 season has not gone to plan and pretending otherwise will only negatively impact future seasons. Losing this battle doesn’t mean the war for a championship is over. But the losses need to be minimized and contained.
