The Philadelphia 76ers have built a Big Three that looks the part of a championship favorite—on paper. Joel Embiid and Paul George rank among the best two-way players in the NBA, while Tyrese Maxey made the leap to All-Star status in 2023-24 as a dynamic shot-creator and playmaker.
As Embiid's injury history yields the unfortunate result of another season during which availability will be a question mark, however, the franchise must consider a shift in priorities.
Embiid will miss the first week of the 2024-25 regular season, which will amount to three absences. It's unclear how soon he'll return after that, but this development comes on the heels of the former MVP telling Tim Bontemps of ESPN that he would prefer not to appear in any back-to-backs moving forward.
In the event that Embiid misses at least one leg of the 76ers' 13 back-to-backs, then he'd miss a minimum of 16 games this season.
That's not the worst number of games played, but the fact that Philadelphia's minimum expectation is losing Embiid for 20 percent of the regular season is difficult to stomach. The focus is clearly on the playoffs, but the need for an adjusted roster-building strategy is becoming more apparent.
Embiid may be the best player on the 76ers, but if he's going to miss a minimum of 20 percent of the regular season moving forward, then Maxey must become the focal point of roster construction.
Joel Embiid is 76ers' franchise player, but Daryl Morey for Tyrese Maxey
Maxey is coming off of his best season as an NBA player, which makes this inevitable realization a bit easier to stomach. In 2023-24, he averaged 25.9 points, 6.2 assists, 3.7 rebounds, 1.0 steal, and 3.0 three-point field goals made on .450/.373/.868 shooting.
A career 39.6 percent shooter from beyond the arc, many believe that Philadelphia's resident flamethrower can reestablish his elite efficiency as he spends more time in an elevated role.
The unfortunate reality remains, however, that Maxey will have to take on the role of a No. 1 player in roughly a fifth of every season moving forward. George could help alleviate some of that burden, but head coach Nick Nurse mentioned in Bontemps' aforementioned report that he'd like to keep the veteran out of back-to-backs, as well.
With this in mind, the task in Philadelphia is no longer exclusively providing Embiid with enough help to win a championship—but to help Maxey secure them a strong enough seed to optimize their chances.
In 2023-24, the 76ers were 31-8 when Embiid played and 16-27 when he didn't. It was Maxey's first season in the featured role, and the roster has undoubtedly improved since then, but it was a haunting look at what could await Philadelphia under the current set of circumstances.
The hope is that Embiid will play more than 39 games, of course, but the decline in win percentages from .795 with him to .372 without him is staggering.
Philadelphia addressed the lopsided nature of the roster by bringing in the likes of Andre Drummond, Eric Gordon, Caleb Martin, and Jared McCain. It should also have an elite record if Embiid, George, and Maxey play upwards of 60 games together.
In an Eastern Conference that's loaded with teams that could win 50-plus games, however, roster construction has suddenly become as much about navigating the regular season with Maxey as it is winning in the playoffs with Embiid.