‘It never gets easier’: Georges Niang’s final Inquirer diary dives inside Sixers’ disappointing finish and free agency

Welcome to the final edition of Georges Niang’s 2022-23 Sixers diary. Throughout the season, the reserve forward has exclusively shared first-person insights about his on-court and off-court life as part of an NBA team with championship aspirations.

With a bit of distance following the Sixers’ lopsided Game 7 loss to the Boston Celtics in the playoffs’ second round, Niang provides perspective on how he has been processing the end of the season and his upcoming free agency.

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I was always told, early in my career in the NBA, when the season ends, it’s kind of like a life. Every season is its own life. Because with people changing jobs or people moving on, you will never come back and have the same exact people — whether it’s in the front office, or in the training room, or in the kitchen, or on the court, or in the locker room, there’s just always going to be a change. That’s why each year is so precious, and the memories that you build, you really want to cherish those. And then, when it all ends, it’s just like … you don’t know what to think. Because you went from having this routine of waking up and having responsibilities and having to be prepared for this, to all of it suddenly, abruptly coming to end. Which is never easy to accept, because you go into every year wanting to win and wanting to be a champion. I’ve never gotten to that point, so falling short, the disappointment in yourself, you automatically think, “What could I have done better?” and, “How can I enhance myself and my team moving forward?”

And then, my unique situation is I’m going to be a free agent for the third time in my career. You think about it, and you enjoy where you’re at. But, at the same time, it’s like, “What is next for me?” If that’s here or if that’s somewhere else, you just have all these different thoughts. It all comes so quickly. Because everybody knows, when you have idle time, that means there’s time to just think. And sometimes, that’s not the greatest for people that overthink.

Being a Northeastern kid, I’ve always gravitated toward the city of Philadelphia and I’ve always loved the stuff that it brings. When the season ended, obviously I took a couple days to be in my thoughts and be by myself. But I wanted to take time to enjoy the city, whether that was going to a Phillies game, or going down to Atlantic City or to the Jersey Shore, to going over and visiting people that I’ve gotten to meet in Jersey or Philadelphia. Just kind of being a normal human for a little bit, taking a step away from the hat that I wear of the professional basketball player and just being someone that can enjoy and love a city that he’s lived in for two years. You want to give your body and mind time to rest, and the way I find complete closure in that is just being a normal human. Just relaxing and doing normal-people things, whether that’s going to Whole Foods or going to different restaurants or going to bars.

Losing Game 7 [expletive] sucks, if we’re just being completely honest. I think everybody started playing the game of basketball because it’s enjoyable. The next-greatest thing is winning. Winning brings you the most happiness. I have fun doing it, but winning is the ultimate goal. Whenever you have to stop what you enjoy doing because you weren’t winning, it sucks. I try not to think about what that game was like, because it was uncomfortable. I’m from Boston, so having to sit there and look up in the stands and see kids that I went to high school with or went to middle school with and seeing them being able to bask in that glory of supporting the winning team, and I’ve got to stomach a loss, it’s just a numb feeling.

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That series was stressful, because you’re coming back home and you want to be generous to people — but you also know you need to focus. At that point, I had to change my tone a little bit, where I’m like, “Hey, sorry that I can’t make this happen for you,” or, “I can’t see you. It’s nothing personal, but this is important to me and I’m really trying to lock in.” Obviously, in the playoffs, you want to limit your outside noises, and coming back home is a little more difficult. But my mom and my uncle and my family really did a great job of sheltering me from that, whether it was tickets or people coming to see me or me just being able to go see them. It was special, because I got to do something at the highest level in front of people that were with me at the lowest level, when I was going to middle schools around here playing in fifth- and sixth-grade basketball games.

I don’t think reality really hits until the next couple days after, because we actually had a really fun group. We really all got along and really enjoyed each other. It wasn’t just the people that were playing. It was the people that showed up every day and contributed to making this team better. That’s one through 17 on the roster. I mean, we had a two-way guy [Mac McClung] win the Slam Dunk contest. There were so many unique and amazing things that we did. Whenever you have a team that can check off all their goals, it’s a remarkable year, and that’s the ultimate. But that doesn’t mean that we didn’t do some incredible things with this year. I remember starting off 12-12, and at the end of the year, being like, “Holy smokes, we’re rolling.” And that’s something that shouldn’t go unaddressed, either. That is a part of our journey and what we accomplished, and that took a lot of hard work.

But you forget all of those things, because recency bias is a real thing. The last thing you remember is losing, and that takes away from everything that you accomplished, because it happened most recently.

We live in Philly. Nobody’s trying to celebrate moral victories, and I don’t think anybody on our team is trying to celebrate moral victories. I’m not from Philly, but I feel like I understand who the fans are, and it’s, “Did you win, or did you lose?” We lost, and at the end of the day, it’s another year that we didn’t achieve our goal of winning a championship. Was it a remarkable year? 100%. We achieved a lot. Joel got his first MVP selection. Tyrese has grown. James has grown. Tobias has grown. Everybody down the list. De’Anthony was huge. Jalen McDaniels joined the squad. Paul Reed has developed. There’s a lot of positives to look at. But at the end of the day, when you’re talking about this three years from now, you’re not looking at the smaller victories. You’re looking at, “How did they do?”

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Obviously, this city is eager for a championship. The toughest part for me, sitting back in the last couple days, is knowing we were so close, being up 3-2 in that series, to giving these fans … in my head, I can see their faces as we have success and how excited they are. And then to have to sit back and wonder what their faces would have looked like if we had won and made it to the Eastern Conference finals. And, if we won in the Eastern Conference finals, what the Finals would look like driving into the Wells Fargo Center. Because we were all around when the Eagles were in the Super Bowl and the Phillies made it to the World Series. The electricity in that city was, “Wow, that is something that I really want to be a part of.” And that I still do want to be a part of, because this city has embraced me for who I am and accepted me. It’s an amazing place. If you can win a championship here, you will be remembered forever. You’ll never buy another meal. You’ll never buy another beer. You might be on the side of a building. You might be on a statue. It’s a sports town that, if you win, you’ll be celebrated forever. I think a lot of people play the game of basketball for themselves, but also to be appreciated. And to be appreciated by a super-loyal fan base would be an amazing accomplishment for me and everybody that has put on a Sixers uniform.

There’s a sick part of me that keeps watching the playoffs, just to punish myself. To remember the feeling of what it’s like, and how bad it makes me feel. To know that, when times are tough and things are going against me, that I want to fight, not only that feeling, but to do everything I can to avoid going home and having to sit there and having that feeling again the next year.

Before I really start thinking about free agency, I like to give myself a mental break from basketball. Obviously, you want to go to a place where you’re appreciated — and I’ve always felt appreciated in Philadelphia. Other than that, I don’t know anything else. The teams that I played on before, where I was appreciated, those teams are totally different now. I’m thankful that the place that I have most recently played appreciates me for who I am and what I stand for and what I can bring to the table. But free agency, stuff happens so quickly. Someone said it best to me: It’s almost like musical chairs. You don’t want to be the one that doesn’t have a chair to sit in. Any time you don’t know the future and things are uncertain, it’s never exciting and it doesn’t get easier. Someone that can sit there and embrace uncertainty is a very strong and powerful person, and I give them credit for that. Because it never gets easier, no matter how many times you have to do it.

I’ve learned a ton in the two years here. I’m thankful for the organization. I’m thankful for the coaching staff that believed in me. The front office that believed in me, to bring me in. I’m super thankful for Doc’s belief in me and getting me to come to Philadelphia, along with Daryl. It couldn’t have been done without the both of them. I’m thankful for Doc’s help with me growing as a player and as a man, and I’ll never take those things for granted.

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The biggest thing that I learned is that, no matter what, keep showing up. I came here Day 1, and we didn’t know who was going to be on our team with the stuff that was going on [with Ben Simmons’ holdout]. You continue to show up, and I had a career year. The next year, we bring in other pieces and have a championship-level team, and we started off struggling. But nobody gave up. We kept showing up, and we ended up being one of the hottest teams in the NBA after that. Just because you didn’t accomplish your goals didn’t mean you didn’t grow. The biggest thing with us is continuing to grow in that trajectory, and get closer and closer until we get over that hump and win a championship.

— Georges Niang, as told to Gina Mizell