Looking to Rebound
The 76ers season is over and it has been a miserable year for a team that, believe it or not, entered the 2024-25 campaign with championship expectations.
The biggest storyline is whether the Sixers will retain their top-six protected first round pick that is owed to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
While the biggest development was the knee injury to Joel Embiid that limited him to 19 games, there were several other factors that contributed to the 24-58 record. The Sixers ended with the fifth worst record in the NBA, but that won’t assure them of keeping the top six protected draft choice. Their fate will be determined by the May 12 NBA Draft Lottery.
The Sixers, who had made the playoffs seven consecutive years, thought they were out of the lottery business. Wouldn’t it be ironic if they earned the No. 1 pick and got to select Duke phenom Cooper Flagg?
Anyway, there will be more about the lottery later, but here are some key situations the Sixers face to tell whether they can turn things around.
Joel Embiid: The Sixers announced last that Embiid had successful arthroscopic surgery on his left knee. He will be re-evaluated approximately six weeks from the April 9 surgery.
First off, have you ever heard a team announce that a player had unsuccessful surgery? Either way, there is still much unknown about Embiid.
Can he ever come back to be the dominant seven-time All-Star? He is so talented that even in his worst season this past year, he still averaged 23.8 points and 8.2 rebounds. The problem is that with the way the team is constructed the Sixers need the dominant Embiid to succeed, not a shadow of his All-Star self. How he recovers will not only be the biggest story for the Sixers, but one of the biggest in the NBA.
Paul George: Due to injuries, George played in only half of the Sixers’ 82 games and he wasn’t overly effective when in the lineup. He averaged 16.3 points, which doesn’t seem bad for a complementary player, but George was too often too passive, just standing in the corner, waiting to shoot. He also shot 35.8 percent from three-point range, the third lowest in his 15-year career. He turns 35 in May and while George is a likely Hall of Fame candidate, we likely have seen his best days. He still has three years and more than $162 million left on his contract according to Hoopshype.com (with the final year a player option) and the Sixers have to hope this isn’t an albatross on their payroll.
Tyrese Maxey: An All-Star in 2023-24, Maxey also suffered through an injury plagued season with a finger and back injury. He missed 30 games and his .337 three-point percentage was his worst since his rookie season. Maxey will be 25 in November while entering his sixth season in Philadelphia. He proved when Embiid was out that he isn’t the type of player who can carry a team, but he is a pretty darn good No. 2 option. He will have to show he can rebound from the injuries. The finger injury, in particular, adversely affected Maxey’s shooting.
Potential free agents: Two players the Sixers might want to keep, but could be priced out of are Kelly Oubre and Guerschon Yabusele. Oubre has an $8.2 million player option that he could decline. Yabusele is a free agent and will likely look for a big raise after earning $2.08 million this past season. Oubre only shot .293 from three-point range, so there may not be teams standing in line to sign him, but it only takes one. We think he should not opt out of his $8.2 million deal, but it’s not our money. Yabusele was a surprise who even shot .380 from three-point range. One would think he is due a big increase.
Then there is Quentin Grimes, who the Sixers acquired from Dallas at the trade deadline and who has become a prolific scorer since his arrival.
Just 24-years-old, the 6-foot-5 Grimes will be a restricted free agent, which means the Sixers can match any offer he receives. He averaged more than 22 points since being traded to the Sixers and one has to wonder if there are teams impressed enough to offer him a big contract. While, as mentioned, the Sixers have the right to match any offer, they also have a lot of other financial commitments. One would think they will do what it takes to keep Grimes.
There are other potential free agents the Sixers have to consider re-signing, but these are the main players and there are plenty of key decisions to make in what will be a critical offseason, one that will be more interesting than the just completed regular season.
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Author: Marc Narducci
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