Tanks for the memories! With top-4 draft pick in reach, Sixers and Embiid have lots to (not) play for

The good news is that the Sixers are not amid one of the worst five-game stretches in NBA history.

The bad news is that the Hornets are. It’s bad news because the Hornets are one of the seven teams currently jockeying for draft position alongside the Sixers, who officially called in the armored cavalry on Friday by announcing that Joel Embiid would be shut down for the season.

It wasn’t just a smart move. It was the only move. A lot has changed for the Sixers since Daryl Morey met with the media after the NBA trade deadline and insisted that the Sixers were still focused on playing for a championship in 2025. In fact, they have yet to win a game since Morey’s press conference. Their current nine-game losing streak may not have been The Plan, but it has opened up a possibility that looked mathematically impossible in early February. They could end up with one of the four worst records in the NBA, which would dramatically improve their odds of retaining their first-round pick rather than conveying it to Oklahoma City to satisfy a preexisting trade obligation.

» READ MORE: Sixers announce Joel Embiid will miss remainder of season, bringing nightmare campaign to close

Here’s a quick reminder for those who’ve spent their winter thinking about more productive things. The Sixers owe the Thunder their draft pick if it falls outside of the top six. Because of the NBA’s lottery system, the Sixers (20-38) can only guarantee themselves a top-six pick if they finish with one of the league’s two worst records. That is still highly unlikely. But if the Sixers finish with the third- or fourth-worst record, their odds of landing a top-six pick would shoot up over 80%.

To accomplish that, the Sixers will need to out-lose two of the five teams that are currently behind them in the standings. That’s no longer impossible, given that they are within six games of four of the five teams.

The standings, entering Saturday, with the odds of getting a top-six pick at each spot:

1. Wizards (10-48), 100%

2. Hornets (14-44), 100%

3. Jazz (15-44), 93%

4. Pelicans (16-44), 80.1%

5. Raptors (18-42), 64%

6. Sixers (20-38), 45.3%

7. Nets (21-38), 32%

The Sixers have a very good chance at catching the Raptors and staying ahead of the Nets. Toronto is 7-10 since Jan. 21. The Sixers are 5-11 since Jan. 21. Brooklyn has won seven of its last 12 to climb ahead of the Sixers in the standings. So things are looking up on that front.

The Wizards are a virtual lock for the No. 1 slot, with an insurmountable 10-game cushion with 24 left to play. In other words the Wizards would have to win 10 of 24 games to end the season after winning only 10 of 58 to start it. Not going to happen.

The question is whether the Sixers have what it takes to catch the Pelicans, Jazz, or Hornets.

A quick rundown:

Pelicans: This one is interesting. Very, very interesting. Not only has New Orleans won four of its last six, the Pelicans are 10-15 since Jan. 3. They’ve somehow accomplished this despite sprinkling in a 10-game losing streak. During that time span, the Sixers are 7-19. So that’s minus-3 wins right there.

Even more interesting: the Pelicans already beat the Sixers once. They’ll have a chance to sweep the two-game season series on March 24 in New Orleans.

New Orleans has four games remaining against the Jazz (March 2), Sixers (March 24), Hornets (March 30), and Nets (April 8).

Jazz: Utah is actually 5-8 over its last 13. If the Jazz play at that pace the rest of the season, it would give them eight wins in their last 23 games. That’s interesting. Over the Sixers’ last 23 games, they have just five wins. So it’s conceivable that they could pick up three losses on Utah over the rest of the season. These teams face each other on March 9 at the Wells Fargo Center. Maybe Comcast will bring back CN8 so they can properly relegate the broadcast to the abyss where it belongs. No sense taking up valuable infomercial time slots on the flagship station.

Hornets: Going to be tough to catch. They are 3-16 since Jan. 22 and have lost their last five games by an impressive 152 points combined, for an average point differential of minus-30.4 points per game. If that sounds impossibly high, it should. It is. In fact, the first four games of that stretch were the worst four-game stretch in NBA history, according to Basketball-Reference.com.

Worst point differential during a four-game stretch since 1946-47, per Basketball-Reference.com:

Shout-out to Clarence Weatherspoon and the ’94 Sixers!

Fun fact: The last game of that four-game skid in 1994 was the last game Moses Malone played in a Sixers uniform. Better known for his four-year stint in Philly from 1982 to 1986, the future Hall of Famer returned in 1993 at the age of 38 to play 55 games, the last of them an eight-minute cameo off the bench in a 133-88 loss to the Pacers in the second-to-last game of the season.

» READ MORE: Four ripple-effect questions after the Sixers shut down Joel Embiid for the rest of the season

More relevant to our current discussion: the Sixers ended up winning their season finale, which moved them ahead of the Washington Bullets in the final regular-season standings. The Bullets ended up drafting Juwan Howard at No. 5 overall, one spot before the Sixers took Sharone Wright at No. 6 (Glenn Robinson, Jason Kidd, and Grant Hill famously went top three).

It’s an interesting alternate history to consider. If the Sixers draft Howard, they probably don’t draft Allen Iverson, since they probably would not have been bad enough to get the No. 1 overall pick in 1996.

Then again, the Sixers might have been in position to draft Kobe Bryant, Peja Stojaković or Steve Nash, given that Washington ended up with the No. 12 pick in 1996. The Bullets previously traded the pick to Cleveland for Mark Price. The Cavs took Vitaly Potapenko No. 12, then watched Bryant, Stojaković, and Nash go off the board at No. 13-15.

Oopsies.

Any one of those three would have made the Sixers an interesting team playing alongside Howard and Jerry Stackhouse.

It’s a good reminder of the stakes for the current Sixers.

Just lose, baby.