The trade deadline can’t save the Sixers from life without Joel Embiid

It’s a good thing that Live! Casino is only a few blocks away from the Wells Fargo Center. Without Joel Embiid, the Sixers might as well be playing the casino circuit. That’s what we saw in their 136-121 loss to the Nets on Saturday.

It was the same thing we saw in their previous 13 games without the big fella. With a healthy Embiid, the Sixers are a better version of themselves than they have been since the Jimmy Butler days. Without him, they are Skynyrd without Ronnie Van Zant, CCR without John Fogerty.

Don’t bother calling John Mayer.

The Sixers are already the Dead.

They are Lizzo without the Izzo.

Just a capital L.

They’ve taken four of those L’s since Embiid’s knee popped its head out of the ol’ groundhog hole following a loss to the Pacers on Jan. 25. In less than two weeks, they’ve gone from vying for the Eastern Conference’s top playoff seed to the cusp, or whatever the opposite of a cusp is, of play-in territory. At 30-18, they are closer to the Magic than they are to the Celtics.

Fifth seed in the East, a game behind the Knicks, four games ahead of the Pacers and Orlando, 4.5 games ahead of Miami. Trending downward. Not good.

The Sixers, who announced Sunday night that Embiid will undergo a procedure on his left knee this week, will tell you that they are counting on Paul Reed and Mo Bamba to fill the void.

“We continue to see different things each night that takes a different look to see how much we can use Paul and how much we can get out of Mo,” coach Nick Nurse told reporters on Saturday. “Paul is a hustle, putback guy and Mo is a caretaker of the ball on offense going side to side and blocking shots. They have to cover the 48 minutes — especially for now — and we believe in them.”

Let’s be real, though. The Sixers don’t need Mo Bamba. They need less Bamba. Much less. Less Paul Reed, too. No offense to either. It’s the reality of this team. The Sixers have lost 10 of the 14 games that Embiid has missed this season. In the games that he has played, their net rating is seven points worse when he is on the bench vs. on the court. A team that is built around a player like Embiid is a team that is ill-equipped to survive without him.

I say this all with a sense of sadness. The unfortunate thing about the Process Era is that it radicalized a broad swath of fans to see a silver lining in every Embiid injury.

See? Same old Sixers. The Process failed.

» READ MORE: NBA deserves blame for Joel Embiid’s latest injury

It’s a silly and self-destructive way to walk through life. Sure, an NBA title is a great life goal. But there are 22 teams that have failed to win one since the Process began. To characterize the Sixers as just another one of that bunch is to fail to appreciate the opportunity to watch Embiid play.

Before the Sixers’ loss to the Pacers when he apparently injured his knee, he’d gone 21 straight games scoring 30 or more points, topped by that franchise-record 70-point outburst against the Spurs. During that stretch, Embiid averaged 39.5 points, 11.0 rebounds, and 2.0 blocks while shooting 37.5% from three-point range.

The overall numbers are silly: 35.3 points, 11.3 rebounds, 5.7 assists, an effective field goal percentage of .560. This, from a player who also happens to be the NBA’s single greatest game-changer on defense.

I can’t help you if you can watch that kind of a output from a player in a Sixers uniform and think it constitutes a failure.

I don’t know what the future holds for Embiid. One thing I’ve learned during my time covering the Sixers in the Embiid era is that the only actionable information we are going to get about his physical condition will come when he is present in the midcourt circle for the opening tip. In 2021, he suffered a meniscus injury in the first round the playoffs, missed the clincher against the Wizards, then emerged to score 39 and 40 in Games 1 and 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Hawks.

What I do know is that the Sixers are as ill-equipped as they’ve ever been to win games without Embiid. We’re going to learn a lot about them this week. The trade deadline is on Thursday. They will play two games before then, on Monday against the Mavericks and on Wednesday against the Warriors. We’ll learn plenty more from the moves — or lack thereof — that Daryl Morey decides to make.

Record with Embiid (Without him)

2024: 26-8 (4-10)

2023: 43-23 (11-5)

2022: 45-23 (6-8)

2021: 39-12 (10-11)

2019: 43-21 (8-10)

2018: 41-22 (11-8)

There is no replacing Embiid. Before his injury, I’d circled Utah’s Kelly Olynyk as one of the complementary additions the Sixers should pursue at the trade deadline. But only because of the opportunities he’d present alongside an all-time great big man.

If Embiid is out for the season, then there is no sensible move. But there are still three months until the conference semifinals. If Embiid can be there, the Sixers have no choice but to try to survive.