The problems (not only physical) of the center, the ailments of the former Clippers and too many veterans who are disappointing: the 76ers should have been title winners and instead they entered a tunnel from which it appears very difficult to escape
The equation in Philadelphia seemed simple: add Paul George to a team that already has Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey and a winning coach like Nick Nurse and you get a title-winning group. On paper, at least. The reality is a little different: after a month of 2024-25 the new Big Three have played together for just 6 minutes and Philadelphia in the Eastern Conference with only 5 teams at least 50% of victories has sunk to penultimate place, with just 3 successes in the first 16 games. “No one says it’s over, no one thinks we can’t change things” says George with conviction. Even if everything is still possible in the Eastern Conference which behind Cleveland and Boston has no certainties, seeing Philadelphia suddenly start to win is becoming increasingly unlikely. The more games go by, the more defeats and disappointments accumulate, the more the doubt that the Sixers no longer have a season to save creeps in forcefully.
The Sixers’ main problem is that what were supposed to be their strengths have become their weaknesses. Embiid, MVP in 2023, is one of the three strongest NBA players if healthy. However, that “if” has become a very heavy boulder, one of the reasons that is sinking Philadelphia. The 30-year-old center, the second highest paid player of the season with 51.4 million dollars, missed the entire training camp with a left knee problem, returned to the field on November 12th visibly out of shape, and played 4 out of 5 games and after showing signs of recovery with 35 points and 11 rebounds in a game that Philadelphia still lost by 6 to Memphis, he stopped again because his left knee swelled and won’t leave him in peace. Physical problems that add to off-field problems: Joel, after being fined at the beginning of the season for announcing that he would probably never play back-to-back again in his life, said he didn’t feel respected by the fans and pushed a journalist in the locker room, receiving a three-match ban.
Things aren’t much better with George, on payroll for $49.2 million this season, the first tranche of the four-year, $211 million deal he signed in the summer. The 34-year-old recently stopped due to a knock on his left knee, the same one that delayed his season debut by two weeks and which is limiting him to 14.9 points per game (38.3% from the field), the lowest from the 6 games played at the end of 2014-15 upon returning from a devastating injury. Maxey, renewed in the summer with a five-year, 204 million contract after a 2023-24 Most Improved Player season, missed two weeks due to injury this month. The physical problems, which do not only concern the stars, are not the only explanation for the disaster that the Sixers have become: many of the veterans who landed in Philadelphia to play in a title team are not proving up to par, and many players are squeezed far beyond what they can give. “It’s difficult like this – explained George -. There are players who came here to be on the pitch with me, Joel and Tyrese who we are instead asking to do a lot while we are away.” The result is that Philadelphia is a disaster well beyond the defeats, third worst attack with 105.6 points allowed per 100 possessions, average defense (18th in efficiency) and the worst start since “Trust The Process” to explain to fans demanding people who expected a title-winning team and who are not afraid to boo this disappointing team. Not even the discovery of rookie Jared McCain, choice number 16 in the draft who took advantage of his absences to score 16.6 points per game with 40% shooting, makes things easier.
Philadelphia had invested in George in the summer not only to add what should be the missing piece of a title team, but also to be less dependent on Embiid. The problem is that, as they are built, the Sixers need Embiid healthy and 100% to function. And the center who won Olympic gold with the USA in Paris is neither healthy nor fit at the moment. He would need to rest to understand what’s wrong with that left knee that’s tormenting him, and then work in the gym to get back into shape and make a difference again. However, Philadelphia cannot wait for him and cannot even allow him to get back into playing shape, because the situation is already shaky and adding further defeats would only contribute to making it more intolerable. The Sixers remain convinced that the situation this season can be rectified, that as soon as the roster is healthy the victories will start coming again and a comeback in a conference where apart from the first two no one flies is absolutely possible. After all, Miami reached the Finals in 2023 via the Play-In and a healthy Philadelphia has everything it needs to think of being next. The more games that pass, the more complicated the situation becomes, the more the big names lose games and the more unlikely the idea that the Sixers can straighten out the season becomes. For now it is a resounding fiasco. One that a team with $145 million promised next season to its three best players can’t afford.
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