Joel Embiid pondering 2024-25 shutdown leaves 76ers fans aghast: “Tanking for Cooper Flagg”

Joel Embiid will probably sit out for the rest of the season as the Philadelphia 76ers elect to tank for the remainder of the year.

Joel Embiid pondering 2024-25 shutdown leaves 76ers fans aghast: “Tanking for Cooper Flagg”

Joel Embiid could have played his last game this season

Philadelphia 76ers superstar and 2022-23 NBA MVP Joel Embiid is considering ending his 2024-25 season early, sources told Shams Charania. The 30-year-old has been grappling with knee issues throughout the whole of this season, missing over 30 games of action already. The Sixers have had to make do without him or Paul George for most of their current season and are currently 20-38.

Their 20-38 record and 12th-seed standing in the East puts them in no position to contend for a play-in spot. Their last-second loss to the Brooklyn Nets seemed to be the final nail in the coffin for Embiid as he looked completely out of sorts and in no condition to share an NBA floor. Charania confirmed that the Sixers front office is looking to keep him out of further action this season.

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Embiid was slow to get up late in the third quarter against the Nets after he lost the ball and hit the court. The big man was then benched late and sat out the fourth after scoring just 14 points in 31 minutes and missing all six of his 3-point attempts. Embiid recorded 15 or fewer points in consecutive games for the first time since May 2021, when he was suffering from similar knee issues.

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With the Sixers currently possessing the 6th-best odds in the draft lottery, they could end up keeping the first round pick in what looks like an extremely loaded 2025 draft class. Given their 20-38 record at the time of writing, Philadelphia could end up keeping the pick they owe the OKC Thunder. This could help them significantly by adding some help to their oft-injured superstar trio of Paul George, Tyrese Maxey and Embiid.

Embiid has looked visibly off-color every time he has stepped on a court in the 2024-25 NBA season. Many experts advised the 7-footer to take the summer off and get a knee surgery for his issues from January 2024. However, his desire to add an Olympics gold medal to his mantelpiece got the better of his long-term health concerns. This decision has now come back to bite the Sixers severely.

NBA fans react as Joel Embiid could be shut down by the Philadelphia 76ers

Embiid is constantly the subject of scrutiny from NBA fans over the past few seasons, especially given his nagging injury issues and his inability to make a deep playoff run. This latest setback has only emboldened those naysayers and given them more opportunities to make light of his contribution to basketball discourse and culture.

A fan wrote, “Yeah they’re tanking for Flagg”.

Another fan believes Maxey, McCain and another rookie would be a better core than what the Process 76ers have put together.

A fan questioned the validity of medical updates provided to the general public regarding Embiid’s injury, noting that a meniscus tear (which was what Embiid reportedly suffered last year) shouldn’t take this amount of time to recover from.

Embiid was the subject of an intense tanking process often described as the most brazen attempt to be bad by an NBA franchise for an extended period. However, this has yielded only a handful of first-round playoff wins for the team over the past 8 seasons. It may be time for the Sixers to cut their losses and move on from their franchise player, whose deal will hamper them from making moves for the rest of the decade.