Joel Embiid seemed as if he would miss Monday night’s game for the Philadelphia 76ers with an illness, continuing a rough season for the club. Instead, he was a late addition to the starting lineup.
It didn’t help. The Sixers still lost 106-89 in Miami. They are now 2-11 and tied with the Washington Wizards for the worst record in the league. That’s right, not the Eastern Conference but the whole NBA.
After the loss to the Heat, the 76ers held a team meeting that kept the locker room closed and head coach Nick Nurse occupied for more than an hour, as The Philadelphia Inquirer first reported. In the meeting, Tyrese Maxey called out Embiid for setting a bad example for teammates, league sources told The Athletic. (Nurse’s job is safe despite the team’s start, league sources told The Athletic.)
But there are more glaring signals that things are not right in Philadelphia.
While Embiid has played in just three games this season, those minutes have been quite atypical for him. Over the last few years, he has been a salve for whatever is ailing the Sixers at that moment, even if he is ailing himself. That hasn’t been true this season.
Granted, this is based on 90 minutes but everything has been off. The Sixers have outscored opponents by 9.4 points per 100 possessions when Embiid has been on the floor over the last four years, and were 11 points better on the floor with him on than off. Their strategy to win games was to regularly withstand the non-Embiid minutes and lean on his gigantic impact in each game he played.
This season, the Sixers have been outscored by 38 points in Embiid’s minutes. They are averaging 20 fewer points per 100 possessions on offense when he’s been on the floor this season, according to Cleaning the Glass.
Embiid took 18 free throws over two games but went more than 31 minutes Monday night without a free throw. That was the second time in Embiid’s career he didn’t take a free throw in a game; the last time was nearly six years ago. His shot profile has been off, too. He’s not taking as large a share of his shots at the rim or near it, settling for long 2s and more 3s instead.
This all could be a blip. Embiid could just be starting slow. After the loss to the Orlando Magic Friday, he told reporters it usually takes a few games back for him to get into form.
The 76ers, however, are losing the benefit of time and patience. Not to make the playoffs, necessarily, but to avoid the Play-In Tournament, which would put more wear and tear on Embiid when he’s spoken openly of trying to reach the postseason healthy. Before this season, of the 105 teams that started 2-11 or worse, just eight made the playoffs and only three did so with a winning record. The Sixers only control their first-round pick in the 2025 NBA Draft if it lands in the top-six, or it goes to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Philadelphia has been fortunate to have Jared McCain. The rookie point guard has stepped into the NBA and contributed almost immediately, averaging 25.2 points over his last five games and hitting 44 percent of the 9.8 3s he’s attempting per game in that stretch. He’s made his way into the starting lineup for the last two games as coach Nick Nurse has come to rely on his firepower. Back in June after the draft, president of basketball operations Daryl Morey said the 76ers had McCain as a top-10 player in the draft, but were skeptical he would be able to contribute early in the season. So far, McCain has, and Philadelphia has needed all of it while Embiid takes time to get to full strength, Paul George continues to acclimate to a new team and Tyrese Maxey recovers from a hamstring strain that has already cost him five games this season.
But Monday, after the latest loss, Embiid said that more urgency may be appropriate now.
“Trying to get back to myself, but being sick doesn’t help that,” Embiid told reporters. “But we got such a brand new team. A lot of new guys. It’s really trying to figure out how I can really impact (the team). I can go out there and take 20, 25 shots like I did the previous years, but where I’m at right now is trying to figure it out, everybody, as we all get back on the floor and all get healthy.
But then again, with our record, that might need to change. I might need to be more aggressive. I would imagine the next couple games, (I’m) probably going to try to be more aggressive as far as doing more.”
(Photo of Embiid: Chris Coduto / Getty Images)
