The Philadelphia 76ers are looking at a lost season — that is pretty much set in stone at this very juncture. With just 20 games left on their slate to end their campaign, they remain seated at 12th place in the Eastern Conference, 3.5 games behind the 10th-seeded Bulls for the final play-in tournament spot.
Clearly, it would be a ton more productive for the front office to shift their focus on their draft strategy this year and the upcoming offseason, where they will have ample wiggle room to make substantial changes, possibly through trades. Aside from a couple of standouts, the 76ers do not have much incentive to look back on this failed campaign.
However, one tidbit that should be atop their whiteboard during the summer is figuring out the Joel Embiid situation, which has gotten a lot more delicate this time around. His camp and the team have yet to find a sustainable answer to his nagging injury woes, and at this rate, things could be headed toward a very ugly ending if left unabated.
Emerging conflict with Joel Embiid could force the 76ers to drop the big hammer
With frustration brewing from both sides, Embiid is seemingly starting to come out with some steam on his end. As reported by ESPN’s Shams Charania, the superstar has seemingly been in conflict the 76ers about how his situation should be handled.
“This all came to a head over the last couple of weeks, specifically, when I’m told Joel Embiid went directly to 76ers owner, Josh Harris, about the state of his knee … Embiid [believed] he needs a different treatment approach for this versus the 76ers feeling: you play on it, get in better condition, and you could continue on this year”.
This development, of course, is far from ideal. If Embiid and the 76ers cannot get on the same page with regard to his recovery, there is no way they could come to a productive compromise and facilitate his return to play.
Even so, this opens up another possible resolution, for better or for worse. Should this subsist without a middle ground solution, the 76ers could be forced to choose between Embiid and the team’s lead decision-maker, which is none other than Daryl Morey. And of course, given the franchise’s disposition (and the attendant fact that they have no other choice but to cling onto Embiid), the answer is not too elusive from common sense.
Hopefully, this conflict is not indicative of Joel Embiid wanting to pull a drastic trigger. But to be fair, the Philadelphia 76ers also have to operate under the thinking that the superstar is still able to play, albeit with a much different approach dictating his availability from what they have resorted to thus far, which has clearly not worke