What we are seeing right now is the shell of Joel Embiid.
At his best, Embiid is one of the most talented players in basketball. Offensively, there is nothing the former league MVP can’t do. His mixture of skill, power and size are a rarity, and it’s allowed him to become one of the defining players of this era. Defensively, his quickness allows him to take up space. He protects the rim. He rebounds. When motivated on that side of the ball, he has typically been a positive.
But the left knee he injured last season is still very much an issue. The swelling and inflammation, the pain and slow healing process have all combined to make this a frustrating and lost season for Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers.
So, they need to shut him down for the remainder of this campaign.
Watching him in Saturday night’s 105-103 loss to the Brooklyn Nets, or Thursday night’s blowout defeat to the Boston Celtics, makes it perfectly clear: Embiid shouldn’t be on the floor. He can’t explode offensively off the injured knee, which means his offensive diet is limited to mid-range jumpers, 3-point attempts and foul shots, if he’s getting a friendly whistle. Defensively? Forget it. He can’t move laterally. He’s not changing ends with speed. On Saturday, Nets center Nic Claxton repeatedly beat him up the floor, which gave Brooklyn advantage situations in the halfcourt.
When playing football or hockey, there is an unwritten rule about injured players. They can play through injury only if they are healthy enough to proverbially protect themselves in the field of play. Watching the Celtics continually run pick-and-rolls at Embiid, or the Nets constantly put Embiid in action, showed that Embiid simply isn’t there. It’s one of the reasons Philadelphia head coach Nick Nurse sat Embiid during the fourth quarter Saturday night — there was no way to have an effective defense against the Nets with him on the floor.
This has been a rocky year for Embiid in more ways than one. The knee doesn’t seem to be getting better, and he’s hinted at the possibility of another surgery in recent interviews. He had an altercation with a reporter when that journalist hinted that he’s not doing what he can to show up and play. Embiid is clearly trying to tough out the season, but the Sixers need to step in and save him from himself. Embiid, who turns 31 next month, should have a lot more basketball in him. He needs to be healthy for that. The Sixers, meanwhile, are 20-36. They are not winning a championship this season.
“He’s giving us what he can,” Nurse told reporters after Saturday night’s loss. “He’s not himself; we all know that. He’s not, certainly, the guy that we’re used to seeing play at a super-high level. But I commend him for giving us what he can.”
Philadelphia is in a difficult spot. The Sixers’ first-round pick is owed to the Oklahoma City Thunder, but it’s top-six protected. With Saturday night’s loss, the Sixers now would have the sixth-best lottery odds if the season ended today. Still, Philadelphia’s brain trust has been vocal about trying to make a run at the Play-In Tournament — the team is a game and a half behind the No. 10 seed, which is currently held by the Chicago Bulls.
But the reality for the Sixers is that their absolute ceiling is getting the 10th spot, winning a pair of Play-In games on the road and garnering the eight seed, then setting a date with the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round. More realistic is this: They take the 10th and final Play-In spot, lose one of the two road games and are forced to give the Thunder a lottery pick.
Pulling the plug on Embiid would allow the Sixers to do what’s needed to get their franchise player healthy and also allow them to do the smart thing.
They need to tank. They need to try to lose every game for the remainder of this season. Nobody expected the Sixers to be within shouting distance of keeping this pick. But now that they are, they need to adjust their mode of thinking, stop being prideful and do whatever it takes to put themselves in position to keep the pick.
Not only are we talking about a draft class that should yield a lot of talent, not only are we talking about an outside shot at the No. 1 pick and the prize of Duke forward Cooper Flagg that comes with it. But the Sixers did a tremendous job in the 2024 draft. It’s been arguably their biggest win of the season. Jared McCain would have been a frontrunner for Rookie of the Year, had he not injured his knee. Justin Edwards has developed into a future starter. Adem Bona is at least a rotation-level big off the bench.
It means that the stink of this season doesn’t have to bleed into future seasons for the Sixers. It can be a blip on the radar. If Embiid figures out a way to get healthy, Philadelphia has enough young talent that it can make a real jump as soon as next season.
But the facade of this season has to stop. The Sixers aren’t going to save this year. It’s too far gone. And they are risking handing the Thunder a top-10 pick.
So, the next step should be easy. Shut down Embiid. Get him healthy. Keep the prized draft asset, and come back stronger next season.
(Photo: Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
