Joel Embiid

Nick Nurse Reflects On Difficult Season After Sixers Officially Eliminated

March 29th, 2025 at 11:06pm CST by Arthur Hill

Head coach Nick Nurse discussed the frustrations of a lost year after the Sixers were officially eliminated from postseason contention with Saturday’s loss to Miami (Twitter video link from PHLY Sixers).

“Obviously it’s not anywhere near where we had hoped it would be when we set out this summer and this fall, that’s for sure” Nurse said. “That’s the only thing you can say, it was a super struggle. You know, most of the way I think there was only a couple times of some momentum. Right? December, and there was another I think four- or five-game winning streak in there, too, where you were always holding out hope that the team was playing better and getting some wins and hopefully get some players back.”

That turnaround never came, as the Sixers were plagued by injuries to stars and role players throughout the season. Franchise cornerstone Joel Embiid was limited to 19 games before being declared out for the season in late February. Top free agent addition Paul George appeared in 41 games before he was ruled out for the season in mid-March. Tyrese Maxey was active for 52 games, but he hasn’t played since March 3 due to a sprained finger and probably won’t return this season.

Injury issues affected virtually the entire roster, as Philadelphia got just 40 games out of Andre Drummond, 39 from Eric Gordon and 33 from Kyle Lowry. Rookie guard Jared McCain was lost after 23 games due to a meniscus tear following a promising start.

Tonight marked the Sixers’ 50th different starting lineup in 74 games, notes Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel (Twitter link), with Justin Edwards, Guerschon Yabusele, Adem Bona, Quentin Grimes and Jared Butler opening the game.

“It just didn’t seem like the injury bug would ever leave us,” Nurse said. “It just seemed like every time we’d have a good game it would cost us a player or two for the next one. We never could build any momentum.”

The good news for the Sixers is that tonight’s defeat, combined with Brooklyn’s win, drops them a half-game behind the Nets and gives them the fifth-worst record in the league. Philadelphia’s first-round pick in this year’s draft is top-six protected and will convey to Oklahoma City if it falls outside that range.

The 23-51 Sixers have now dropped seven straight and 24 of their last 28. Five of their final eight games are against teams under .500, starting with Sunday’s home contest against Toronto.

Atlantic Notes: Raptors, Embiid, Dowtin, Chisholm

March 26th, 2025 at 9:10pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

After facing a lot of high-level competition and working through a tough schedule early into the 2024/25 season, the Raptors have seen their slate during the year’s home stretch get significantly easier — just as they’ve been looking to stack up losses.

Toronto is hoping to cement its bid for the best possible lottery odds in this summer’s draft, but playing fellow rebuilding squads could complicate that plan, writes Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca.

To wit, Grange notes that the Raptors are still scheduled to play Charlotte and Brooklyn twice each, and have one more game against seemingly lottery-bound clubs in Philadelphia, San Antonio, Portland, Chicago and Dallas as the season winds down.

As of this writing, the 25-47 Raptors have the seventh-worst record in the league. They could conceivably overtake the 23-49 Nets and Sixers – and maybe even the 20-53 Pelicans – in the lottery order if they play their cards “right.”

There’s more out of the Atlantic Division:

Sixers coach Nick Nurse said today that injured former MVP center Joel Embiid has finished consulting various specialists about his lingering knee inflammation, and Philadelphia intends to make a decision on next steps “soon-ish,” per Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports (Twitter link).
Sixers guard Jeff Dowtin is rapidly approaching the 50-contest active game limit for two-way players. According to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer (subscriber link), the Rhode Island alum has just two games left before Philadelphia faces a decision on his fate. If the Sixers want to give the 27-year-old any more run in 2024/25 beyond those two games, the front office will need to promote Dowtin to its standard roster. Through 38 games this year (he has been a DNP-CD in 10), the 6’3″ guard boasts averages of 6.4 PPG, 1.8 APG, 1.6 RPG and 0.5 SPG in 14.1 minutes per night.
Incoming Celtics owner Bill Chisholm spoke with All-Star forwards Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown and team president Brad Stevens ahead of the club’s recent tilt in Sacramento, writes Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe (subscriber link). “It’s the most incredible feeling to think that maybe I can just play a tiny little part in the future,” Chisholm said, “and now I’ll just let these guys do what they’re doing, let Brad do his thing. If I can help in any way, that’s amazing to think about.”
Stevens himself spoke about the Celtics‘ impending new ownership situation too, per Souichi Terada of MassLive. “My only thing is just asking to be kept in the loop on everything I need to know from the standpoint of making decisions here and now and moving forward,” Stevens said. “As we get to spend more time with Bill, with [current team governor Wyc Grousbeck] and Bill, then we’ll have more clarity on how we are going to do things.

Sixers Notes: Hood-Schifino, Reed, Bona, George, Embiid

March 17th, 2025 at 9:00am CST by Arthur Hill

Considering their lottery situation, the Sixers really didn’t need a win Sunday afternoon in Dallas, but that didn’t matter to Jalen Hood-Schifino or the other players trying to prove themselves at the NBA level, writes Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Hood-Schifino, who signed a two-way contract on March 1, came off the bench to sink five three-pointers and score 19 points in 23 minutes. He also hit a pair of foul shots with four seconds left that put the game out of reach.

“For me, just focusing on my breath and saying calm, and knowing if I get those two free throws, the game is over,” Hood-Schifino said. “So for me, it was about relaxing and knocking those shots down.”

Pompey notes that while the Sixers snapped a three-game losing streak and won for just the fourth time in 21 games, it wasn’t the best outcome for a team that will surrender its first-round pick to Oklahoma City if it falls outside the top six. Brooklyn also won on Sunday while Toronto lost, leaving Philadelphia with the sixth-worst record in the league, a half-game behind the Nets in the lottery standings and a half-game ahead of the Raptors.

“Listen, we are going to prepare this group to go out there and have some success,” coach Nick Nurse said. “Again, they played very well tonight. … Again, we just want to prepare them well and give them a chance to show what they can do and have some success.”

There’s more on the Sixers:

Pistons center Paul Reed, who was waived by Philadelphia in July, took a shot at his former team on social media Saturday night, posting, “They thought I was the problem,” Pompey adds. Asked to comment on Sunday, Nurse replied, “I don’t have a response. We certainly didn’t think Paul Reed was a problem.”
The Sixers’ list of inactive players for Sunday grew to 10 when center Adem Bona was declared out due to a sprained left ankle, Pompey tweets. There’s no word on how much time Bona is expected to miss.
The Sixers were counting on Paul George to lift them into title contention when he signed as a free agent last summer, but their best move might be to try to unload his hefty contract during the offseason, Pompey states in a separate story. The nine-time All-Star has been limited to 41 games this season and hasn’t played since March 4 because of groin and knee injuries. He’ll turn 35 in May and still has three years and $162.3MM left on his contract.
The Sixers won’t be able to make real progress until they move on from Joel Embiid, Pompey argues in another piece. He notes that Philadelphia’s front office keeps making personnel moves to build around Embiid, but the star center’s constant injuries prevent them from being effective. Pompey adds that with Embiid, George and Tyrese Maxey using up virtually all the team’s cap space over the next several seasons, there’s little room to improve if they all remain on the roster.

Bontemps/Windhorst’s Latest: Nets, Sixers, Zion, Wizards, Raptors

March 14th, 2025 at 11:01pm CST by Luke Adams

The Nets project to have significantly more cap room than any other NBA team this offseason — they’re in position to open up more than $60MM in space. However, they’re unlikely to take the same approach as last year’s top cap-room team, Philadelphia, which spent big on win-now free agents.

As Brian Windhorst of ESPN writes in an Insider-only article, the Nets signaled when they reacquired control of both their 2025 and 2026 first-round picks that they might require at least a two-year rebuild. Some rival teams believe Brooklyn will end up rolling much of its 2025 cap room over to the 2026 offseason, according to Windhorst.

“They’re going to use it in trade because they’re not going to have anyone to pay in this free agent market,” one executive said of the Nets’ cap space. “They could end up right back in this spot next year.”

Here are a few more items of interest from Windhorst and his ESPN colleague Tim Bontemps:

While the hope in Philadelphia is that better health luck next season will result in a bounce-back year for the Sixers, there’s still no update on what the treatment plan for Joel Embiid is and no assurances that he’ll be back to 100% in 2025/26, as Windhorst and Bontemps note. “Until they know what is happening with Embiid, there is no way to project what they will be next year,” a league executive told ESPN. “They will have a hard time changing that roster.”
The Pelicans are just 9-19 in games that Zion Williamson has played this season and project to have an expensive roster next season, so even though Williamson has been healthy and performed well as of late, rivals continue to wonder if he’ll end up on the trade block, Windhorst writes. “The question about the Pelicans is whether they would consider trading Zion,” a rival general manager told ESPN. “It hasn’t really been an option over the last couple of years because he’s been injured, and his value hasn’t been high enough. Even now, I don’t think they could get great value. So they will probably see if he can carry this play over into next year.”
Multiple executives who spoke to Bontemps lauded the Wizards for their work at the trade deadline, including bringing in veterans like Khris Middleton and Marcus Smart while taking a flier on 2024 first-rounder AJ Johnson. “I like what they are doing,” an executive said. “They’re doing things the right way.” Conversely, there’s some skepticism around the league about the way in which the Raptors – who traded a first-round pick as part of a package for Brandon Ingram – are attempting to accelerate their rebuild, says Bontemps. “I don’t like what Toronto is doing,” one exec told ESPN. “Trying to flip it quick is dangerous.”

Atlantic Notes: Embiid, Sixers, Horford, Raptors

March 9th, 2025 at 3:07pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Sixers head coach Nick Nurse believes the team is on the cusp of figuring out its new treatment plan for star center Joel Embiid, per Keith Pompey of The Philadelpahi Inquirer. At the end of February, Embiid was shut down for the rest of the season with left knee swelling.

“…I think they are getting closer to that,” Nurse said on Saturday. “I think there’s another [evaluation] at some point today, as well. I know they met a lot and talked a lot and [saw] a lot of people… So we are working at it, but we just don’t have a definitive answer quite yet.”

Pompey notes that Philadelphia and Embiid have pondered the possibility of a follow-up surgery on the knee. He last went under the knife in February 2024 for a left meniscus surgery, but the former MVP is still dealing with pain and swelling in that knee.

There’s more out of the Atlantic Division:

The Sixers made a flurry of big signings during the 2024 offseason in anticipation of a deep playoff run. Forward Paul George agreed to a four-season, $211.6MM deal to join Philadelphia in free agency, while Embiid was inked to a three-year, $192.9MM contract extension, which won’t begin until 2026/27. Instead of being an MVP contender this year, however, the team has seen Embiid limited to 19 games, while many of its new additions have regressed mightily from their 2023/24 runs. In a column for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Pompey details how Philadelphia’s summer splurge could adversely impact its roster-building in the years to come.
Celtics center Al Horford, one of the league’s oldest active players at age 38, received major praise from his colleagues following a 111-101 victory over the Lakers on Saturday, according to Tim Bontemps of ESPN. Playing 37 minutes with Kristaps Porzingis unavailable, Horford scored 14 points, grabbed nine rebounds and dished out four dimes. “Al is one of a kind,” All-NBA forward Jayson Tatum said. “…I’m the biggest Al Horford fan there is. I love that guy.” Head coach Joe Mazzulla, meanwhile, called the 6’9″ vet “a future Hall of Famer.” With his longevity, scoring output, team success (he’s won one NBA championship and two NCAA titles), and five All-Star appearances, Horford does have a case. “Al is just old reliable,” All-Star Celtics wing Jaylen Brown said. “He’s just the ultimate connector for us on both ends.” Across 50 games in his 18th pro season, Horford is averaging 8.3 points, 5.8 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 0.9 blocks and 0.6 steals per night, with a .418/.358/.893 shooting line.
With the postseason likely out of reach for this year’s Raptors, the team is prioritizing player development, notes Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. To wit, Toronto is getting encouraging minutes from rookies Jamal Shead, Ja’Kobe Walter, Jonathan Mogbo, and Jamison Battle, plus solid performances from two-way players Jared Rhoden and A.J. Lawson. The club believes intense pregame workout sessions among its younger players have played a part in their growth. “We push ourselves in those workouts and we get out there in games and try to replicate that,” Shead said.

Atlantic Notes: Poeltl, Ingram, Brunson, Towns, Robinson, Embiid

March 5th, 2025 at 8:44pm CST by Arthur Hill

Raptors center Jakob Poeltl sees last month’s trade for Brandon Ingram as proof that the organization expects to be competitive next season, writes Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. Although Ingram hasn’t played since suffering a sprained ankle November 22 while he was still with New Orleans, he has started working out before games. Even if he has to wait until next season to see Ingram in action, Poeltl is excited about the core group that has been put together.

“(The trade) just kind of followed up on what they’ve been talking about, well, really, for the past year, year and a half, which is like, ‘No, we don’t want to tank and go through the draft.’ They wanted to get back to winning quickly. Obviously,” he said. “Yes, you got to try and build up a new team. You got to build on some young guys, and you got to go through some more difficult times, but they’ve always communicated that they want to be aggressive, making moves like that. And so, yeah, I think it’s really good, and it’s good for us as a team.”

The Raptors are also being careful with Poeltl, who is operating under a minutes restriction due to a hip injury he suffered last month and frequently doesn’t play beyond the third quarter. He would prefer to be challenging for a playoff spot, but he understands why the team has dedicated the final few weeks of the season to developing its young talent.

“Obviously, you want to win games, like there’s no way around it,” he said. “I want to win games now, and sometimes it’s frustrating to lose games when you’re in that learning process. But I think, like you said, I’m one of those guys. I can see the big picture. I can understand the process, and bought into it, so I know what to expect, and then I’m OK with that.”

There’s more from the Atlantic Division:

The Knicks saw Tuesday’s game slip away when Golden State started double-teaming Jalen Brunson in the fourth quarter and taking the ball out of his hands, observes Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. That strategy led to five straight empty possessions, which allowed the Warriors to pull away. Brunson called it “something we can learn from,” but the Knicks still haven’t shown their offense can be effective without Karl-Anthony Towns, who missed the game due to personal reasons. Towns is expected back on Thursday when New York starts a five-game West Coast swing, sources tell Bondy (Twitter link).
Knicks center Mitchell Robinson is only averaging 13.7 minutes in three games since returning from ankle surgery, but his playing time is expected to increase on the road trip, Bondy adds. Bondy also questions coach Tom Thibodeau’s decision to remove Precious Achiuwa from the rotation now that Robinson is playing again.
Keith Smith of Spotrac examines the Sixers‘ options with Joel Embiid, concluding that there’s no easy way to cut ties with the injured center if he’s unable to regain his All-NBA form. Embiid has four years and a projected $248MM left on his contract after this season, leading to him, Paul George and Tyrese Maxey taking up nearly the team’s entire salary cap over the next three years. Unless Philadelphia can find someone willing to trade for Embiid’s hefty contract, the only options are a waive-and-stretch procedure, which wouldn’t be possible until after the 2026/27 season, or a medical retirement, which would have to be approved by the Fitness to Play panel or by a doctor jointly selected by the NBA and the players union.

Sixers Notes: Grimes, Embiid, Oubre, George, Yabusele

March 3rd, 2025 at 4:38pm CST by Luke Adams

Fourth-year guard Quentin Grimes is known more as a complementary player than a big-time scoring threat. In his first three-and-a-half seasons before he was traded to the Sixers last month, he had scored 30 or more points in just two of his 215 career NBA games. Since arriving in Philadelphia, he has done it twice in nine games, including on Saturday when he poured in a career-high 44 points on 18-of-24 shooting in a win over Golden State.

Grimes, who had 20 points through two quarters, said he knew he was in for a huge night when he came out of halftime and kept scoring, according to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer.

“I’ve had 20-point halves in the past,” he said. “But I think in the third quarter, I ran off like … 11 straight, I was kind of like, ‘Okay, I’m kind of feeling it tonight for sure.'”

Grimes, who will be a restricted free agent at season’s end, has been playing some of the best basketball of his career since joining the 76ers, averaging 16.8 points per game on 51.8% shooting (41.1% on three-pointers). The Sixers acquired him and a second-round pick in a deal that sent Caleb Martin and a second-rounder to Dallas. Speaking to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, Grimes admitted he was somewhat caught off guard by the trade.

“I was kind of shocked a little bit, knowing how well I had been playing for (the Mavericks) and contributing,” he said. “We had a really good group of guys, and we had a really good bond with each other, so it was initially a shock. Here, there is a really good group of guys as well.”

Here’s more out of Philadelphia:

The Sixers’ decision to rule out Joel Embiid for the rest of the season due to his nagging left knee injury remains a hot topic of discussion. Brian Windhorst of ESPN takes an in-depth look at how Embiid’s season went south, a handful of ESPN’s NBA insiders discuss what’s next for the 76ers and their star center in the short- and long-term, and Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer considers how Embiid’s growing list of injuries will affect his legacy. Windhorst and Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter video link) both reported that Embiid sought a meeting with team owner Josh Harris in late February to discuss how best to move forward
Kelly Oubre has played heavy minutes for the Sixers as of late and has been one of the team’s most effective players, averaging 18.2 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 1.6 steals in 38.7 minutes per night in the team’s last 17 games. However, he won’t be available on Monday vs. Portland, having been ruled out with an illness, tweets Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports. Oubre holds an $8.38MM player option for 2025/26, so the better he plays down the stretch, the more inclined he may be to decline that option and test free agency.
Paul George will turn 35 in May and knows he may only have a few more years to compete for a championship, which is why a season like this one has been so disappointing for him, Pompey writes for The Philadelphia Inquirer. “Each year is a year I can’t get back,” he said. “… I haven’t been in the best physical health this season. It’s been a lot of things going on that I have been trying to battle and fight through. … It’s frustrating that this stuff keeps popping up for me knowing that that window is closing.”
In addition to speaking to Grimes, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype also interviewed Guerschon Yabusele, discussing the Frenchman’s successful return to the NBA this season and his expectations for free agency. Yabusele said he feels comfortable in Philadelphia but will take his time with his free agency decision. “I’m going to take my time and see what the options are,” Yabusele said. “Having that option and chance to be back here is definitely something I love to hear.”

Sixers Rule Out Joel Embiid For Rest Of Season

February 28th, 2025 at 3:05pm CST by Luke Adams

The Sixers have ruled out star center Joel Embiid for the remainder of the 2024/25 season due to his ongoing left knee issues, the team announced today in a press release (Twitter link).

“The Philadelphia 76ers and Joel Embiid have been consulting with top specialists regarding ongoing issues with his left knee,” the club’s statement reads. “After further evaluation, it has been determined that he is medically unable to play and will miss the remainder of the season to focus on treatment and rehabilitation.

“We are working with medical experts to determine the exact treatment plan and will update media when we have more information. The team and specialists will continue working with Joel to ensure the best path forward for his long-term health and performance.”

Embiid’s left knee has been a problem since January of 2024, when he sustained a lateral meniscus injury that required surgery. He was able to return last April and played all six games of the Sixers’ first-round playoff series vs. New York in the spring, then suited up for Team USA at the Paris Olympics over the summer.

However, Embiid continued to deal with swelling in the knee in the fall, which delayed his season debut until November 12. In the months since then, he has never looked fully healthy, appearing in just 19 total games and averaging 23.8 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 4.5 assists in 30.2 minutes per game.

While those numbers would be impressive for most players, the scoring and rebounding rates were well below the former MVP’s career averages, as were his 44.4% field goal percentage and 29.9% mark on three-pointers.

According to Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Substack link), Embiid has met with more than 10 doctors over the course of the season in an attempt to figure out the best way to reduce – or, ideally, eliminate – the discomfort and swelling in his troublesome left knee.

Embiid told Lisa Salters of ABC/ESPN earlier this month that he may require offseason surgery, but that comment took Sixers staffers by surprises, sources tell Fischer, who hears that another procedure on the knee still isn’t a given. While the 30-year-old big man is still hoping for some sort of “cure-all procedure” that would allow him to return to 100%, there’s no clear consensus among Sixers doctors and medical experts outside of the organization about the best path forward, Fischer explains.

With the Sixers sitting at 20-38 and 2.5 games back of the No. 10 Bulls in the Eastern Conference standings, it makes sense for the club to take a long-term view and shut down Embiid, who is on a maximum-salary contract that includes three more guaranteed seasons beyond this one, plus a player option for 2028/29.

The question now is whether Philadelphia will continue to try to push for a play-in spot or whether the team might also consider holding out Paul George and Tyrese Maxey, both of whom have been playing through health issues of their own. George has taken injections to continue playing through various injuries, including tendon damage in his finger, while Maxey is also said to be battling a finger injury that’s affecting his ball-handling and shooting.

The Sixers will owe their 2025 first-round pick to the Thunder if it lands outside the top six and they currently have the NBA’s sixth-worst record, which will be another factor to consider as they weigh their approach to the rest of the season.

If they finish sixth in the lottery standings, the 76ers would have approximately a 45.8% chance of hanging onto their first-rounder. Those odds would increase to about 64% if they drop to the fifth-worst record in the league and 81.1% if they have the fourth-worst mark.

Paul George Puts Podcast On Hold To Focus On Rest Of Season

February 27th, 2025 at 7:42am CST by Luke Adams

The latest episode of Paul George‘s ‘Podcast P’ podcast, which featured guest Dwight Howard and came out on Monday, will be the last one for the foreseeable future, according to George, who announced that he’s taking a hiatus from the podcast in order to focus his full attention on the home stretch of the Sixers‘ season.

“I want to let the Podcast P family know that after today’s episode with Dwight, I plan to take a break from the pod just to focus on getting my body right, getting mentally right, and helping this squad make a push towards our goal to finish the season out and give ourselves a chance to be in contention to compete for a championship,” George announced (Twitter video link).

On the heels of that announcement, George went out and scored 25 points, his highest total since Jan. 24, on Wednesday in New York. The Sixers were unable to hang onto a late lead following a 19-point comeback and ultimately lost to the Knicks, but George had his best game in weeks, complementing his scoring by contributing eight rebounds, seven assists, and three steals. He was asked after the game about his decision to pause his podcast, as Tim Bontemps of ESPN relays.

“It was more so just to focus on here,” George said. “I haven’t been the healthiest, so it’s just been putting a ton of work towards getting my body as healthy as possible, and to keep focus of obviously being here and trying to turn things around here and the full focus is trying to get this team together.

“But we got to give ourselves a chance. Take it one game at a time, but we got to give ourselves a chance to see what we can do down the stretch.”

George, who signed a four-year, maximum-salary contract with Philadelphia last July, has had one of his worst seasons as a pro in 2024/25, averaging just 16.4 points per game, his lowest mark in a full season since 2011/12. His .432 FG% and .358 3PT% are also below his career rates.

Like fellow Sixers star Joel Embiid, George has been hampered by injuries this season and has faced criticism from some fans for regularly putting out podcast episodes while the team’s record has plummeted to 20-38. He said on Wednesday that he’d been thinking about temporarily stepping away from his side project for some time.

“It was something that was kind of racking in my head a little bit just because of [being] new to the city, being acclimated to Philadelphia,” George said, per Bontemps. “It just came to the point where it was like, ‘All right, this is the time to kind of take a step back for a second.'”

Despite their ugly 20-38 record, the sixth-worst mark in the league, the 76ers aren’t out of play-in contention. They currently sit 2.5 games back of the No. 10 Bulls. Of course, George himself acknowledged on Monday that Philadelphia has shown “no signs” of being a playoff-caliber team.

According to Bontemps, the Sixers are expected to make a decision in the coming days on whether or not Embiid will be shut down for the season due to his nagging knee injury. If he is, it will be interesting to see whether the club takes similar steps with George and Tyrese Maxey, who is battling a right finger injury that’s affecting his ball-handling and shooting. Maxey shot just 12-of-32 from the floor on Wednesday, including 0-of-10 on three-pointers.

Sixers Notes: Bulls Loss, George, Embiid, Yabusele

February 25th, 2025 at 10:06am CST by Luke Adams

The Sixers‘ season continues to reach new lows. On Monday, Philadelphia was obliterated at home by a Bulls team that came into the game on a six-game losing streak, falling behind Chicago by as many as 50 points in the fourth quarter before ultimately losing by 32. The 76ers are now 20-37, 12th in the Eastern Conference, and sit 2.5 games behind the Bulls for the final play-in spot.

After the game, forward Paul George told reporters that the Sixers need to have more “pride” on defense, adding that he’s “baffled” by how easily they give up layups and easy baskets (YouTube link). Asked about the club’s postseason hopes, he acknowledged that Philadelphia hasn’t looked like a team capable of making noise in the playoffs — or even making it there.

“We’ve shown no signs of a team that will compete,” George said (Twitter link via Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer). “We just don’t have the habits that a champion or a playoff-contending team would have. So to be honest right now, it’s a little far-fetched. All we can do is work hard, try to keep going for one another. But we’ve shown no signs of – forget championship – a playoff-contending team here.”

Here’s more out of Philadelphia:

Within a column for The Philadelphia Inquirer, Marcus Hayes cites medical opinions from doctors who aren’t directly involved in Joel Embiid‘s treatment about what sort of options the big man might have to address his nagging left knee problems. According to Hayes, the original plan was for Embiid to get used to playing with some level of soreness, managing the knee by regularly draining it and injecting it with platelet-rich plasma (PRP). But Embiid has gotten worse instead of better in recent weeks and experienced swelling in the knee on Sunday, which necessitated an additional round of testing. One source tells Hayes that another surgery was never seriously considered as an option for Embiid until this weekend.
Sixers big man Guerschon Yabusele, one of the few success stories in Philadelphia this season, left Monday’s game early after suffering an eye injury. According to Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports (Twitter links), Yabusele has been diagnosed with a corneal abrasion in one eye and has swelling around his other eye. He’ll undergo further evaluation on Tuesday and the hope is that there’s no retinal damage, Neubeck adds.
Despite being currently mired in an eight-game losing streak, the Sixers remain unlikely to finish the season with a worse record than the Pelicans, Jazz, Hornets, or Wizards, writes John Hollinger of The Athletic. Still, the 76ers could be incentivized to shut down George and Embiid in the hopes that Toronto passes them in the standings. In that scenario, Philadelphia would have the league’s fifth-worst record and roughly a 64% chance of hanging onto its protected first-round draft pick, which will be sent to Oklahoma City if it lands outside the top six.

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