In a recent episode of "The Zach Lowe Show," Lowe speculated that, if the Philadelphia 76ers don't make it out of the Play-In or are eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, ownership might decide to fire head coach Nick Nurse.
"What happens if this season ends in disaster for them? They're in the Play-In right now. What happens if they don't make it to [the No. 6 seed], and they don't make it out of the Play-In? What happens if they lose in the first round, whether it's in the 3-6 matchup or 2-7 or 1-8, and it's not close?" Lowe said about the 76ers.
"It feels like this season, if you had told everyone before the season Embiid would play whatever he's played, half the season, Paul George would get suspended for 25 games, Kelly Oubre would be out for a while, etc. To be where they are, seven, eight games over .500, objectively [is] a success. If I'm Nick Nurse, if I'm Daryl Morey, I'm going to ownership and being like, 'That's a pretty good season.' Does ownership see it that way? Does ownership see the Paul George deal as an abysmal failure despite the fact that he's now finally back and playing well? I don't know. We'll see."
The 76ers may have a tough Nick Nurse decision to make this offseason
This season has been a bit of a roller coaster for the 76ers. On Feb. 4, they were 29-21 and owned the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference. But due to a combination of factors (Paul George's suspension, Joel Embiid missing time due to an oblique injury, and teams like the Atlanta Hawks going on insane runs since the trade deadline), their spot in the standings has shuffled a little bit.
Last month, it even got so bad that it looked like Philadelphia might miss the playoffs entirely as the No. 9 seed and being only a couple of games ahead of the red-hot Charlotte Hornets in the standings.
With only a couple of weeks to go in the season, the 76ers have clinched at least a Play-In spot and currently own the No. 6 seed in the East, but it's close (they're only 2.5 games ahead of the No. 10 seed Miami Heat).
All things considered, the 76ers are probably in a better spot than they should be, and they're getting hot at the right time. They were on a downward trend when they were forced to play games without their three best players (Embiid, George, and Tyrese Maxey, who missed a few weeks due to a finger injury), yet they stayed afloat and could be a scary team for others to go up against in the playoffs. And a big reason for that is Nurse.
But on the flip side, if the 76ers are fully healthy when the playoffs roll around and they still don't make it out of the Play-In or the first round, then it's fair to say they underachieved anyway.
Ultimately, I think Nurse deserves to stick around past this season regardless of what happens. The should probably be in a way worse position right now, and he does have a mostly positive track record (though his 2019 championship with the Toronto Raptors is doing a lot of heavy lifting). But would I be surprised if ownership goes the other way? Not really.