1 Historic NBA stat says Philadelphia 76ers' season may already be doomed

Even though the Philadelphia 76ers remain hopeful, one stat suggests that their season may already be doomed.

It's no secret that the Philadelphia 76ers have been decimated by injuries to start the season. For a team that was expected to emerge this season with championship aspirations, it's been a nightmarish start to the year for the Sixers. Through the first 17 games played by the Sixers so far, Joel Embiid has missed 13 games, Paul George has missed nine, and Tyrese Maxey has missed six. That's not ideal and it's the perfect formula for how to mishandle the start to the year and how to build an earl-season hole.

Nevertheless, despite the fact that the Sixers find themselves with a 3-14 record and ranked 14th in the Eastern Conference standings, the team is remaining hopeful. The team is saying all the right things even after their slow start to the year. After all, how could you not? The Sixers haven't even played a quarter of the season yet. Despite their bad start to the year, it would be somewhat foolish for the team to throw in the towel this prematurely.

Interestingly enough, there's one historic NBA stat that suggests that the Sixers' season may already be lost. With a hat tip to CBS Sports, only eight teams in NBA history have started the regular season with a 3-13 record or worse and still made the playoffs. Of the teams that did defy the odds and make the postseason despite their slow starts, all of them were eliminated in the first round.

Is the Philadelphia 76ers' season already doomed?

At 3-14, the outlook doesn't look good for the Sixers. But, at the same time, there is also a reason to believe that the Sixers could be an outlier. If, and I understand just how big of an "if" this is, the Sixers can find a way to get and remain healthy for the majority of the season, I find it very hard to believe that this team won't be able to fight their way back into the thick of the playoff race in the Eastern Conference.

Even more so considering, aside from the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics, the East isn't exactly running away from the Sixers. Despite their poor start to the year, the Sixers are just four games back of the 7th seed. That may sound like a lot but at this point in the season, one hot week and the Sixers could very well be back in the thick of things in the East.

Philadelphia may never be the overwhelming contender that many believed they could be this season but if they can remain healthy(ish), there's reason to believe that this team could still make some noise this year. History is certainly against them but this team is too talented to bury this early in the season.