Photo Credit: Nicolas Scola
By: Nicolas Scola
The Philadelphia 76ers did not give longtime public address announcer Matthew Cord a fitting exit to his tenure with the team. Instead, the Sixers melted in epic proportion on their home court, ceding Game 4, and the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals, to the New York Knicks midway into the 3rd Quarter. 76ers fans sparsely populated the deflated stadium, which boasted a series of ‘Let’s Go Knicks’ chants throughout the night.
As a native New Yorker and lifelong Knicks fan, the game was personally very enjoyable for me; but for the many thousands of 76ers fans living in and around Penn, it was a scary reminder that “The Process,” a rebuilding effort by Philadelphia from 2013-2016, might just be irretrievably broken. Team co-owners Josh Harris and David Blitzer, two Penn graduates, find themselves with a massive problem on their hands.
The 76ers entered the 2025-2026 NBA season with many questions. After missing the playoffs the previous year, there was optimism that the return of superstar Joel Embiid, more consistent play from supermax free agent Paul George, along with the infusion of third overall pick V.J. Edgecomb could produce the necessary formula for success.
After a turbulent season in which Joel Embiid only played 38 out of 82 games, the Sixers secured the 7th seed in the NBA playoffs in a first round matchup against the Boston Celtics, who won the NBA championship two years prior. Through four games, the Celtics clearly looked and played like the better team; even the return of Embiid in Game 4 was not enough to prevent a 128-96 rout.
In spite of the odds, in games 5-7, Embiid returned to form, averaging 28 points, and carrying the team to a 4-3 series victory alongside running mate Tyrese Maxey.
Heading into the second round, the Sixers had become a media darling; if Embiid was truly healthy, this could be a championship level roster. But as fate would have it, that is the million dollar question: will Joel Embiid ever be fully healthy?
History and medical consensus predict a resounding, no. In the Knicks series, Embiid struggled to stay on the court, missing Game 2, and remaining seemingly hobbled throughout the rest of the series. An evident part of the Knicks strategy in each game against Philadelphia was to attack Embiid, whose lack of lateral quickness after multiple knee injuries have made him a defensive liability. In a sport where speed and vertical leap decline rapidly into players’ early thirties, it seems like Embiid may never be the same defender he once was.
What’s more, Embiid has played only 40% of games over the course of the last 3 seasons. Presently, Philadelphia uses the Cameroonian star as more of a mercenary instead of a reliable contributor. While there is still certainly a role for someone of Embiid’s offensive prowess on a team (even if he only plays a fraction of the season) with a $187.8 million fully guaranteed cap hit over the course of the next three years, his inability to stay healthy has left Philadelphia in a quagmire. Between Embiid and Paul George (who has regressed substantially since signing with Philadelphia in 2024), the 76ers owe close to $300 million over three years to two injury prone players on the wrong side of thirty.
Over the course of the last nine years, Philadelphia has failed to make it past the second round of the NBA playoffs six times, losing in the first round in two of those years. In the NBA, being in a position like Philadelphia (not terrible enough to have a high draft pick but not good enough to win a championship) is the worst nightmare of any general manager. It requires a quick turn in either direction to avoid falling deeper into the sandpit of NBA purgatory.
Take the Oklahoma City Thunder, realizing that they would never win a championship with a younger but still aged (in terms of basketball years) Paul George, a rapidly declining Russell Westbrook, and a past-his-prime Carmelo Anthony, they decided to pull the plug, amassing a war chest of draft picks that has allowed them to become the NBA’s juggernaut. Now, the Thunder boast a roster full of promising players in their early-to-mid 20s like Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams.
The 76ers are in need of a similar reboot. They have a core of young talent, including V.J. Edgecomb, Tyrese Maxey, and Quentin Grimes, that they can build around. But they must strip the team of their older star players. In a salary cap constrained sport like basketball, many of the 76ers supermax contracts will be hard to trade. But Philadelphia must explore every avenue to offload players like Embiid and George, even if the return is paltry.
If they cannot trade either contract, more drastic measures may need to be considered. While most 76ers fans would likely be averse to this outcome, a Tyrese Maxey trade should be on the table. If another team approaches Philadelphia with 4+ unprotected first round picks and swaps, plus multiple young intriguing prospects, Maxey’s departure may be the best move for the team’s future. While individually he is arguably the best player on the Sixers, with Embiid and George’s contracts on the books, Philadelphia will find it difficult to build a championship contender around him.
If instead they trade Maxey, who is healthy and talented enough to garner a godfather package, Philadelphia can focus on constructing the team around V.J. Edgecomb, who is five years younger. In the interim, they can use their new warchest of draft picks to take the Oklahoma City Thunder approach of building through the draft. Furthermore, once Philadelphia is ready to compete for a championship (optimistically in the next 3-5 years) they can do so with plenty of salary cap available to round out their roster.
After the disastrous game on Sunday, New York Knicks Small Forward Josh Hart, a Villanova Graduate who played his college basketball in the Xfinity Center, quipped: “I used to think Philly was a sports town, I don’t know if it is anymore.” While Hart’s statement is clearly exaggerated, the 76ers are in need of more than a facelift to convince their fans that they are serious about the team’s future.
Much in the same way that Philadelphia folklore legend Rocky Balboa had to revert to his south-paw stance in order to beat Apollo Creed, the 76ers should shift their organizational aims from yearly playoff disappointment back to a more long-term vision centered on future championship aspirations. While Sixers fans may fear another rebuild, scarred by the organization’s directives to trust “The Process” in years past, it may just be their only avenue forward.
Nicolas Scola is a rising Senior in Wharton and the College from Morristown, NJ. Nicolas is also the Editor-in-Chief for The Pennsylvania Post. His email is nscola@wharton.upenn.edu
