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The Philadelphia 76ers have had a turbulent last year, as the team traded for Paul George and then saw the squad crash and burn during the 2024-25 season, largely due to injuries. The 76ers are desperately hoping for a reasonably healthy season from 2023 league MVP Joel Embiid, who has not yet been out of the second round in his career.
As Embiid and George continue to age, the 76ers are feeling the pressure to win now. Recently, ESPN NBA insider Bobby Marks highlighted just how urgent the situation is for Philadelphia.
“This partnership between Philadelphia and Joel Embiid, there's no turning back. They've got to make this work… For better or worse,” said Marks on NBA Today.
Embiid attempted to play through injury during the 76ers' first round loss to the New York Knicks in the 2024 playoffs but looked like a shell of himself. In 2024-25, the 76ers missed the playoffs altogether after George, Embiid, and Tyrese Maxey shared the floor for just 15 games.
Can the 76ers put it together?
The good news for the 76ers is that the Eastern Conference would appear to be wide open at the current juncture due to the swath of high profile injuries, including most notably to Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton.
However, the bad news is that the injury caveat applies to the 76ers perhaps more than any other team in the league.
Embiid is the second most-talented big man of his generation but has yet to have any real playoff success to show for it, and the clock is ticking as he is now on the wrong side of 30 years old and has a long injury history on top of that.
George, meanwhile, will need to perform a lot better (and more often) than he did in 2023-24 to avoid his contract with the 76ers becoming one of the, if not the worst in the entire NBA.
If things don't go according to plan this year, it might be in the 76ers' best interests to throw in the towel on this era and start building around younger players like Maxey, Jared McCain, and VJ Edgecombe.
