The Conversation: Is there any hope for Joel Embiid and the Sixers?

Jared McCain’s rookie season ended in mid-December of last year, but he still managed to play more minutes (592) than Joel Embiid did (574) for the 2024-25 Philadelphia 76ers. The same is true of reserves Jeff Dowtin Jr. (621), who was on a two-way contract and also played 17 games for the Sixers’ G League team; Kyle Lowry (659), who barely played for the final three months; and Jared Butler (682), who joined the team at the trade deadline.

In all, 15 players logged more minutes than Embiid did for last season’s Sixers. The guy who played the fifth-most minutes, Ricky Council IV, is not currently on an NBA roster. (The Brooklyn Nets were reportedly going to bring him to camp if not for an injury.) Paul George missed half the games, too, and, by the end of the regular season, they were in full tank mode, trying to hang on to their top-six-protected pick. For a franchise that had invested about $400 million in Embiid and George the previous summer, it was an absolute nightmare.

Good news, though: 2024-25 is over. The late tank worked, and, if you’re a Sixers fan who hasn’t already purchased a V.J. Edgecombe jersey, you’ve likely at least considered it. McCain will miss the start of the season because of a thumb injury, and neither George nor Embiid has played in the preseason, but, in theory, Philly will soon get a proper look at the team it has put together. The hope is that the ceiling is just as high as the Sixers envisioned when they’re at full health and that the floor is nowhere near as low as it was last season.

The State of Play

Last year: Just about everything that could do wrong did go wrong until the night of the lottery. The miserable, 24-win season did have some silver linings, though: Tyrese Maxey improved his point-of-attack defense, McCain looked like the Rookie of the Year during the brief period in which he was healthy and Quentin Grimes, acquired for Caleb Martin at the deadline, played like the guy the Knicks didn’t want to trade for Donovan Mitchell four years ago. Guerschon Yabusele becoming a fan favorite and Justin Edwards emerging late in the season were small victories, too.

The offseason: They grabbed Edgecombe with the No. 3 pick, used the No. 35 pick on stretch big Johni Broome and re-signed Edwards for three years and $7.1 million with a team option. They also re-signed Eric Gordon and Lowry and signed Trendon Watford away from Brooklyn, all on minimum contracts. Yabusele left for the Knicks, and they used two of their two-way slots on Jabari Walker and Dominick Barlow, who might have a chance to take some of his minutes. After a long standoff, Grimes signed the one-year qualifying offer.

Las Vegas over/under: 42.5 wins, per BetMGM

The Conversation

Sixers believer: Nothing about last season was fun in Philadelphia, but, with the exception of winning a championship, it was the best thing that could have happened to the franchise. By bottoming out, the Sixers were able to draft V.J. Edgecombe, who is probably a future star and definitely going to help them immediately. Daryl Morey’s front office also learned from all the things that went wrong in 2024-25, as they’ve put together a significantly younger, more athletic roster than they had a year ago. Everyone except Tom Ziller seems afraid to say it, but the 2025-26 Sixers can be contenders if they are relatively healthy this time around. I know you’re about to hit me with the same tired, boring “Joel Embiid can’t be relied upon anymore” take that I’ve heard a million times, but once he’s back on the court and looking like himself again, you’ll change your tune.

Sixers skeptic: The reason you’ve heard so many people say Embiid can’t be relied upon anymore is not that there’s some sort of anti-Philadelphia conspiracy going around. It’s just the truth, no matter how much you and I wish it were not. The Sixers drafted Embiid 11 years ago, and the only time he has ever finished a season healthy was 2019-20 in the bubble. Embiid himself has acknowledged that playing through his knee injury — and Bell’s palsy — in the 2024 playoffs was not the wisest decision. What scares me the most about Embiid is not that he barely played basketball last season, but the way he moved when he did play. At this point, I don’t understand how anyone could be confident that he’ll get back to an MVP level, let alone sustain it.

Sixers believer: I’m assuming you agree with this statement about Embiid: “Everyone has to consider the possibility that no surgery and rehabilitation, no matter how cautious and thorough, will ever be enough to keep him on the court for long.”

Sixers skeptic: Yeah, obviously.

Sixers believer: Great. It’s from a Philadelphia Inquirer article that is more than 10 years old. Before you write off Embiid, please remember that, before he had played a single second in the NBA, plenty of people were doing the same thing. His injury history has always been a cause for concern, but he has already overcome it to be named an All-Star seven years in a row and win an MVP award. Please don’t act shocked if and when he makes this sentiment seem foolish again. 

Sixers skeptic: Can we talk about the rest of the team? There are only so many ways to say that Embiid is a massive question mark, and pointing out that the organization has been walking this tightrope for more than a decade definitely doesn’t make me feel any better about it. Weren’t you a little spooked when, with Embiid and Tyrese Maxey out of the lineup, Paul George scored a measly two points on 1-for-7 shooting in 36 minutes in Brooklyn in February? How do you feel about George having arthroscopic knee surgery in the summer and Jared McCain vlogging about another injury? I get the Edgecombe excitement, but aren’t you a little disappointed that the Sixers didn’t keep Guerschon Yabusele or re-sign Quentin Grimes on a long-term contract? It’s hard for me to flush last season when this season’s vibes are already weird.

Sixers believer: Actually, I have some questions for you about the San Antonio Spurs: Weren’t you spooked by how inefficient De’Aaron Fox was in the 17 games he played for them last season? How do you feel about him missing all of preseason — and probably some real games — because of a hamstring injury? It’s not a great sign that Stephon Castle is already dealing with a bruised knee, is it? Are you sure that Victor Wembanyama is going to stay healthy after missing almost half of last season? To be clear, I’m not seriously saying that everybody should be freaking out about the Spurs, but it’s annoying that McCain had thumb surgery just three weeks after No. 2 pick Dylan Harper did and only the former is treated like a bad omen. Let’s respect the Sixers’ history of genuinely insane stuff happening by not overreacting to minor snags! And by the way, San Antonio’s crowded backcourt and collective lack of shooting are bigger problems than any non-health-related issue with Philly’s roster, and the Sixers have the benefit of playing in the East. George is 35, but the fact that he remained an elite defender last season indicates that his decline has been greatly exaggerated (as has the importance of that one game in which he was dealing with three separate injuries). McCain won’t miss many games that matter. Grimes can still re-sign next summer, and, as much as I’ll miss Yabu, I expect Trendon Watford to more or less make up for his absence.

Sixers skeptic: If every single Spurs player except Wemby tears his Achilles next week, I’d still feel better about their future than Philadelphia’s. There’s no double standard here; one of these teams has the brightest future imaginable and the other one will be paying Embiid and George about $120 million combined in 2027-28. What sucks the most about the position the Sixers are in is that, if you ignore those two signings, they’ve made some amazing moves over the last few years! They got Maxey with the No. 21 pick, McCain with the No. 16 pick and Edgecombe with a pick they weren’t really supposed to have. The Grimes trade was highway robbery, the Kelly Oubre Jr. signing (and re-signing) worked out as well as they could have hoped and Justin Edwards looks like a nice find. Adem Bona might be, too, and, after Yabusele (another smart signing) walked, it made sense to pick up Watford. Unfortunately, though, there’s no mechanism for a clean transition to the post-Embiid era, so the Sixers are stuck doing the two-timelines thing. This has already cost them. While it’s understandable that they wanted to stay under the first apron and maintain their ability to get under the tax with a trade, these constraints prevented them from paying Yabusele and Grimes what they’re worth. Compromising in that way was a tell: No matter what Morey says, the organization isn’t really all-in on this group anymore.