The latest Philadelphia 76ers rumor makes absolutely zero sense if they're serious about winning an NBA Championship next season.
If the Philadelphia 76ers are serious about emerging next season as a championship contender in the Eastern Conference, trading Paul George may need to be a necessary goal heading into the offseason. In his first year in Philadelphia was any indication, PG may not be a great fit for what the Sixers have been trying to build around Joel Embiid. However, locked into a multi-year contract with PG, trading him is going to be a lot more complicated.
Plus, at least according to one recent report, the Sixers have no desire to trade PG. At least not at the moment. According to Jake Fischer, there's no expectation that the PG-Embiid duo will be broken up this offseason. After just one season, Philadelphia doesn't have any appetite to throw in the towel on the experiment.
PG's first season with the 76ers was a disaster
This past season wasn't just an absolute disaster for the team overall, it was very underwhelming for PG individually as well. Nearly all year long, PG was battling injuries and was in and out of the lineup for the 76ers. PG played in only 41 games and had one of the least productive and efficient years of his career. It'd be easy to place all of that blame on the injuries, but I'm not sure it's that simple. That's what the 76ers must sort out this summer.
At least for now, the 76ers are hoping that PG can put his first-year struggles in the past. I'd argue that could end up being a huge mistake. PG is 35 years old and isn't getting any younger. There might be a good chance that he's on the downward spiral of his career. If so, the 76ers are making a huge misstep with this decision to keep the roster relatively intact heading into next year.
Embiid had his own injury struggles this past season, and that doesn't make the team's situation with PG any easier. Having two injury-prone stars is far from ideal, but it's the bed the team has made for themselves. And heading into the offseason, the 76ers are looking to place the hope of the future on those two stars moving forward.
On the one hand, it may be hard to blame them, considering how much they invested in PG and the fact that last season was as bad as it could get, especially from an injury perspective. On the other hand, if a team knows they may have made a mistake, doubling down on it just makes things worse all around.
I can't help but wonder if that's exactly what the Sixers may be choosing not to explore PG's trade market this offseason. I'll be honest, the team is not in a great spot. However, if the team is indeed serious about winning a championship next season, I'm not sure if PG is the right co-star next to Embiid. They might be punting on another season of Embiid's prime by keeping him on the roster.