Rucker’s Mailbag: Embiid’s health; where do the Sixers go from here?

As the Sixers’ season continues to hang in the balance, I ask the fans for their thoughts.

The Sixers, currently 19-29, sit one game out of the 10th seed and the final play-in spot. They’re also just 4.5 games out of the sixth seed which would allow them to avoid the play-in entirely. With all that being said the cloud that continues to hang over the Sixers is the health of Paul George and, more prominently, Joel Embiid, who just missed his 14th consecutive game. When they will return is still up in the air, but the feeling is that both are close. Where do the Sixers go from here? I asked the fans for their questions and thoughts for the second Sixers mailbag of the season.

Lets get to it.

This is a dilemma that many Sixers fans have pondered over the last month or so of the season. For a while it looked like they would have no choice but to tank as the Sixers had lost seven straight games and fell back to the 12th seed in the East. With the Sixers recently going on a four-game win streak and pulling themselves right back onto the cusp of the play-in I think the focus has shifted again to trying to win and hope that Embiid will soon return to the fold. My answer to this question is simply “nowhere.” If the Sixers are not going to bottom out and put themselves in position to retain their draft pick, then the only option is to do whatever it takes to get this team into the playoffs and try to make a run. A lot of that will hinge on this coming Thursday’s NBA trade deadline in which I expect the Sixers to look to be buyers, in search of potentially another wing and/or a guard as well. Let’s all just continue to hope that Embiid can return and suffer no further setbacks.

As I touched on earlier the Sixers have now been without Embiid for 14 straight games. Embiid has most recently been out due to a setback to his knee and continued swelling during the ramp up stage of his return to play. The latest videos of Embiid from practice and pregame have been encouraging and it seems his return is near. When Embiid returns, if there is another re-injury or any further setback that would cause him to miss another sizeable portion of games, at that point I think you start talking about shutting him down and looking towards next year in what would surely be a do-or-die season for this iteration of the Sixers — if the remaining of this season isn’t already just that.

I’m going to put the likelihood of them trading Embiid within the next year at a 2. There are a few reasons as to why I think it is very unlikely. The first reason being that trading Embiid would signify the Sixers entering, at best, a soft rebuild and would put them even further away from any avenue of contention than they already are. A second reason being just the small chance of Embiid being healthy, even if just for a short period of time, if that period of time coincides with the playoffs the Sixers are capable of winning any game that Embiid is on the court and healthy — assuming that his most recent injuries have not completely zapped his All-Star form and ability. The final reason being if Embiid is as cooked physically as many fans and basketball followers seem to believe then it would be nearly impossible to trade him. Embiid is under contract through 2029 at around $65 million dollars per year annually, with the final year of his deal being a player option in the 2028-2029 season at $69 million in his age 34 season.

If the Sixers do make the playoffs I think that any first-round opponent that isn’t the reigning NBA champion Boston Celtics would be a win for the Sixers considering where they currently are at this point of the season. In a best-case scenario, the Sixers would make a push for the six seed which would probably put them in a first-round rematch from last season’s playoffs with the New York Knicks, a team that at full strength I think the Sixers match up fairly well with. The Cleveland Cavaliers would be the next most likely opponent and, while the Cavaliers are a very good team and, in my opinion, underrated as a true threat to come out of the East and dethrone Boston, I believe that the Cavaliers would not be too thrilled if they had to see Embiid, Maxey and George in the first round after their best season since the LeBron James era in Cleveland.

No, I still do not think it’s time to blow it up just yet. If a year from now the Sixers are in a similar position or if this summer it becomes clear that Embiid’s health is beyond redemption then at that point I think it’s time to press the red button. Then you start thinking about the best course of action for the franchise going forward with Maxey and Jared McCain as your main points of focus.