The Philadelphia 76ers have had a lot of misfortunes pile up this season. Perhaps, it should not have been surprising in the first place that the squad managed to put forth one of the most disappointing campaigns by a team in recent history. In hindsight, the team was simply dealt a pretty ugly deck of cards, culminating in their first non-playoff appearance since 2017.
Right from the get-go, the signs that this could be a depressing season were there. It took Joel Embiid months since the Olympics to sniff his first on-court action. Paul George injured his knee twice in the arly juncture fo his 76ers stint. Even Tyrese Maxey got injured and sidelined for a considerable number of games. Heck, Jared McCain was well on his way to running with the Rookie of the Year award before he injured his knee.
Now, the 76ers are looking at a lost season. While things do not seem hellish as of the moment given that they could be well-compensated for being terrible by virtue of the draft lottery, one can only wonder about the team’s realistic chances of getting anywhere near to contention in the following seasons, especially given their leader’s drastic decline.
Joel Embiid’s mighty fall with the 76ers bares a “first” in NBA history
After winning the Most Valuable Player award two years ago, Embiid seemed poised to eventually get over the hump and lead the franchise to its first championship in decades. He started off the following year in monstrous fashion, being the runaway favorite to win the award again last year, but a knee injury kickstarted a string of unfortunate events.
Despite the glaring red signs, it seemed only natural for the 76ers to hand him an astronomical extension. After all, he was merely months removed from looking like the best player on the planet. Unfortunately, things took a rapid 180 this season.
With Embiid’s status moving forward still being a huge question mark, Embiid has gone from being possibly the best player in the NBA to having the most undesirable contract in the league in a span of a year. That is pretty much unheard of in the league’s storied history.
To make things worse, the pendulum is much more likely to swing in the negative regarding Embiid’s immediate future. Even if he manages to return, the odds of him coming back and performing at 100 percent capacity are close to nil, and it’s not like he is getting any younger, either.
The Philadelphia 76ers are still operating under the belief that Joel Embiid can return to being one of, if not the most dominant player in the league. But the reality of the situation is that the franchise is only clinging to such wild idealism that is unlikely to materialize.