NBA Rumors: The Philadelphia 76ers make the decision to shut Joel Embiid down for the remainder of the season as his future is very much in question.
It's pretty official now; the Philadelphia 76ers have waved the white flag on the season. Even though the Sixers could technically still fight for one of the final Play-In Tournament spots in the Eastern Conference (and then hope for the best from there), it doesn't appear as if that will be happening. According to a recent report, the Sixers are set to shut Joel Embiid down for the remainder of the season as he deals with a knee injury.
Embiid being declared out for the season still leaves many questions unanswered. At least for now, there hasn't been any reported clarity on what the next steps will be for Embiid as he looks to put this forgetful season behind him. However, at least for the Sixers, they can now move forward with a more defined plan for the remainder of the year.
Shutting Embiid down is unlikely to help this team make a final push toward the postseason, but it will certainly help this team improve its draft position. At this point, there's probably more value in the Sixers accomplishing that than trying to sneak into the postseason, only to get obliterated by the Cleveland Cavaliers or Boston Celtics in a first-round playoff series.
What does this mean for Joel Embiid moving forward?
But even that may be moot for this team and their future. More than anything, you can't help but wonder what this all means for the future of the Sixers. Now that Embiid is battling another knee injury, without knowing how serious this one is, it's hard to predict what the next few months will look like for this franchise.
And without the guarantee of a healthy Embiid moving forward, it's going to be hard for this team to try and improve the rest of the roster. This team is completely built around Embiid. Without Embiid, as we've seen this season, the Sixers are not good. They need Embiid to be successful. And if that's not something they can rely on or project forward, it certainly adds even more chaos and confusion for this team heading into the offseason.
Embiid is done for the season, and the Sixers would like a huge reset for the entire 2024-25 NBA campaign. Unfortunately, that can't happen. Instead, this front office will be scrambling to figure out what this all means for the future.