of philadelphia 76ers They should be in the middle of the championship window. Instead, the Sixers suffered another heartbreaking loss to the injury-plagued Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday night, leaving them with the NBA's worst record after a month of play, 2-12 overall. It became. Everything that could go wrong for Philadelphia this season went wrong. Fans are already wondering whether teams should throw in the towel and tank ahead of a packed 2025 NBA Draft.
If the season ended today, the 76ers would be in the lottery for the league's best chance to take Duke University's super freshman Cooper Flagg with the No. 1 overall pick. Unfortunately for the Sixers, the season doesn't end today. Philadelphia has played 17% of its schedule so far, with 68 games remaining.
It will be weeks, maybe even months, before the 76ers decide on the direction of their season. But if they decide to tank, it will be a delicate tightrope walk to keep the draft pick because of the trade that threw away a bad contract made four years ago.
The 76ers owe a first-round pick in the 2025 NBA Draft to the Oklahoma City Thunder, which is protected at 1-6. Philadelphia traded picks and waived Al Horford's contract in November 2020. With Thunder. If the Sixers' season doesn't go well, this trade could come under intense scrutiny again.
NBA Draft Top 10 Lottery Odds
The Sixers need to finish this season as the worst or second-worst team in the league to keep their draft pick from falling outside the top six. Using the current standings, here are the NBA Draft lottery odds for teams to pick in the top 10. via Tankathon:
Even if the Sixers finish as the third-worst team in the league, there is a 92.9% chance they will keep the pick. If the team ends up in fourth place, the probability of keeping the pick is 81%. The Sixers, the fifth-worst team, have a 63.9% chance of keeping their pick. As the sixth-worst team, Philadelphia will lose 54.3 percent of their picks.
The Eastern Conference is the Sixers' salvation.
If the Sixers were in the Western Conference, their season would have felt over already. In the East, it's much easier to survive a disastrous start.
The East is worse than ever. Despite being 2-12, Philadelphia is only 3.5 games out of the final spot in the NBA Play-In Tournament. Somehow they are just four games out of the No. 6 seed in the East, which means an automatic playoff berth.
As the season progresses, teams at the bottom of the standings will often choose to enter the tank race, potentially giving the Sixers an easier win to get back into the playoff mix. The question is how bad it would be for Philadelphia to decide to be one of the teams that prioritizes draft position over a postseason trip.
The Sixers are in the middle of a hellish season.
I ranked the Sixers as the 6th team most likely to win the 2025 NBA Championship heading into the season. Obviously, that looks like a terrible prediction at this point.
This time a year ago, Joel Embiid looked like he could be the best player in the world. After a 70-point game in January, Embiid had the highest scoring average in league history.surpassing Wilt Chamberlain. He had surgery on his left knee a few weeks later.and since then, the Sixers have essentially completely collapsed.
The Sixers have been very transparent about their plans to rest Embiid for the season to “manage his left knee.” The league fined them $100,000.. Embiid finally made his season debut earlier this month, but when he did play, he looked miserable. The only silver lining in Wednesday's loss to the Grizzlies was that Embiid finally had a good scoring game, scoring 31 points in the loss.
Embiid shouldn't have had to carry the Sixers on his back like he usually does this season. The team signed Paul George to a free agent contract for up to four years after his All-Star season with the Clippers. George suffered a knee injury during the preseason and has played well below his normal level since returning to play. George was ejected from Wednesday's game against the Grizzlies. Hyperextended the same knee he injured in preseason..
Tyrese Maxey is a rising young star in Philadelphia's backcourt. He carried an impossible burden early in the season when Embiid and George were sidelined and eventually suffered an injury himself. Maxey had just returned to action after going down with a hamstring injury in early November. The hamstring injury could last for a long time, and he didn't look as fast in his return against Memphis.
The Sixers' depth looked terrible as their star players were hampered by injuries. Philadelphia currently ranks last in offensive efficiency by a mile. The team ranks 29th in 3-point percentage at 31.7 percent. It's clear they can't maintain an advantage across the roster. One drive and kick usually kills the attacker. Andre Drummond has struggled as the team's fill-in option at center, and Caleb Martin and Kelly Oubre have had rough starts as well.
What's strange is that Philadelphia currently has a front-runner for Rookie of the Year. The Sixers drafted Jared McCain with the 20th overall pick, and so far he's been really good, averaging 15.6 points per game and shooting 41 percent from 3-point range. Would the Sixers have won if they hadn't drafted McCain? The 20-year-old is doing everything he can to keep the team together, but he's not getting much help.
The Sixers still have plenty of time and talent to win.
Of course, it's still too early for the Sixers to think about tanking. If Embiid can return to MVP-level play quickly, the team has plenty of time to fight for a spot in the Eastern Conference standings.
The East has two heavyweights among the reigning champions. boston celtics And now it's 16 wins and 1 loss. cleveland cavaliers. Beyond that, who does Philadelphia really fear in a potential playoff series? knicks Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges have had solid but lackluster first seasons so far, and their defense is a big question mark. The Orlando Magic have looked elite defensively, but have struggled offensively due to Paolo Banchero being out indefinitely. Without the Sixers, the Bucks would have been the biggest disaster in the league.
With the arrival of McCain, the Sixers have added another important piece to their success. At the end of the day, it's important that Embiid and Maxey get healthy and play at their highest level, and that George overcomes this knee injury. If Philadelphia's play doesn't improve, could they trade George midway through the season? It's hard to think of any team that would want to sign him since he is owed more than $50 million per season over the next three years after this season. George will turn 35 in May.
Targeting Cooper Flagg is extremely dangerous for the Sixers.
Cooper Flagg is a franchise-changing first overall pick. Every bad team wants him, but only one of them will get him. Read my feature on the people who helped Flagg become the league's next super prospect.
The Sixers may not actually have a choice whether to tank or not. They're trying to win now, but they can't. If Embiid gets beat up all year long or is sidelined again, Philadelphia doesn't have a chance. George's injury problems don't seem to be going away anytime soon. It's only November, but it's safe to say that Philadelphia's season is coming to an end.
The fact that the Sixers traded a 2025 draft pick to move on from Horford only makes this deal even more painful. The Thunder eventually traded Horford to Philadelphia's arch-rival Boston Celtics, where he played a key role in the team's 2024 NBA championship.
The Sixers invented modern tanking with “The Process,” which led to Embiid's draft. Ten years later, they face one of the most volatile draft situations in recent history, with potential favorites struggling and only a top-six draft pick protected. are.
