The Philadelphia 76ers’ season is all but over, and experts and fans alike agree on how the team needs to approach the situation with Joel Embiid.

At 20-36, there is basically no hope for the Philadelphia 76ers to right the ship in the final months of the regular season.

Even if they do make the Play-In Tournament as the ninth or tenth seed (and they are a game and a half out of the tenth seed), they will still have to win two road games before sniffing the postseason, where they would all but certainly fall to the Boston Celtics or Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round.

With the season all but over and both Joel Embiid and Paul George battling through injuries just to stay on the court, not even playing productive basketball, fans and experts alike are in complete agreement over what the team needs to do next.

Embiid isn’t good enough right now to make playing worth it
Even when Embiid does play, the Sixers are not anywhere near the level they expected to be at this season. He has appeared in only 19 games this season, and the Sixers are 8-11 in those contests, only marginally better than they are overall on the season.

With nothing but pride to play for, the Sixers have been encouraged to shut their star down and not risk any further injury.

“Watching him in Saturday night’s 105-103 loss to the Brooklyn Nets, or Thursday night’s blowout defeat to the Boston Celtics, makes it perfectly clear: Embiid shouldn’t be on the floor,” outlined The Athletic’s Tony Jones.

“He can’t explode offensively off the injured knee, which means his offensive diet is limited to mid-range jumpers, 3-point attempts and foul shots, if he’s getting a friendly whistle. Defensively? Forget it. He can’t move laterally. He’s not changing ends with speed.

“On Saturday, Nets center Nic Claxton repeatedly beat him up the floor, which gave Brooklyn advantage situations in the halfcourt.”

Claxton is not a bad player by any means, but the fact that Embiid couldn’t keep up with him in the most recent game is very telling. The Nets are very upfront about the fact that they are tanking, and Claxton both outscored and outrebounded the 2023 MVP.

Philadelphia doesn’t have the talent to compete
When the Sixers inked George to a four-year, $211 million deal this summer, everyone knew that the back end of the contract would be rough, but his first season in Philadelphia has been lackluster, and there are still three seasons left.

Embiid, even when healthy, is not playing at an All-NBA level, and any hope the Sixers have that he will bounce back and lead them on a deep playoff run is foolish at best and downright harmful at worst.

Embiid has been very clear that his knee won’t heal without surgery, and George is receiving injections in his joints just to play subpar basketball. The chances of recovery midseason for both of them are zero, demonstrated by their complete inability to play winning basketball even when they share the court.

“When did he look good this year? When was he moving well this year?” asked Stephen A. Smith on ESPN.

“That has not been the case! This season is done, this city knows it, there’s no brotherly love for the Sixers. Lose and sit Joel Embiid for the rest of the season, sit Paul George while you’re at it, and prepare for the next three years because this season is a joke.”

If Embiid is still the face of the franchise (Jared McCain and Tyrese Maxey could overtake him), the Sixers must take a page from the Memphis Grizzlies’ book last year.

When Ja Morant missed considerable time, the Grizzlies shut him down, along with his teammates, and ended up being able to draft Zach Edey. This year, the New Orleans Pelicans are in the same boat. Only the Sixers are entertaining staying competitive.

76ers have an incentive to tank
Even if the Sixers don’t want to wave the white flag on their season and embrace losing, they might have to if they want to bounce back.

George, Maxey, and Embiid have all struggled with some degree of injuries throughout their careers and promising rookie Jared McCain hasn’t been healthy for much of the season, although it’s too early to label him “injury-prone.”

With their current roster, the Sixers need to add depth, and the best way to do that is through the draft. However, they owe their 2025 pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder, unless it falls in the top six.

Currently, the Sixers have the sixth-worst record, but adding to their draft lottery odds would be the smart thing to do, and they don’t really have any alternative options.

“A healthy Embiid probably couldn’t carry an underwhelming Philadelphia squad to the NBA Finals anyway,” wrote Yardbarker’s Clark Dalton.

“The 76ers are 20-36 and will probably miss the playoffs. Tanking without Embiid could help Philadelphia. The Sixers’ first-round pick in the 2025 NBA Draft is owed to the Oklahoma City Thunder, but it’s top-six protected. Letting Embiid sit for the rest of the season seems sensible for Philadelphia.”

Clearly, national experts, local beat writers, and fans are all in agreement with how the Sixers should approach the rest of the season, because if the Thunder add yet another young player at the expense of Philadelphia, it’s hard to envision a lot of improvement even with a healthier roster moving forward.