Joel Embiid has been through a lot since the Philadelphia 76ers drafted him in 2014. He has dealt with tragedy in his personal life, disappointments in his professional life, and too many injuries to list concisely. This year, however, things have looked up. Say what you will about how Joel may have treated his conditioning and dietary habits when he was younger, but the man is currently doing everything possible for both his physical and mental health. He has also done the right things as a teammate, graciously stepping aside to allow Tyrese Maxey to assume the mantle as the team’s top player, in both general demeanor and on-court usage.
Good results have followed. Embiid is on pace to play his most games since the 2022-23 season with numbers that could have reasonably made him an NBA All-Star. The Sixers are also winning games, currently riding a season-best five-game winning streak that has them fifth place in the Eastern Conference at 29-21. The East has no true juggernaut, so you can certainly make the argument that Philadelphia has a puncher’s chance to make a serious run come springtime. Embiid certainly thought so, as he [uncharacteristically spoke out in advance of the NBA trade deadline](/76ers-analysis/85292/joel-embiid-sixers-2026-nba-trade-deadline-kelly-oubre-paul-george-giannis), imploring ownership to let things play out, at a minimum.
> “Obviously, we’ve been ducking the tax past couple of years, so hopefully, we’ll keep the same team. I love all the guys that are here. I think we got a shot.
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> “I don’t know what they’re gonna do, but I hope we get a chance to just go out and compete because we’ve got a good group of guys in this locker room. The vibes are great. Like I said, in the past we’ve been I guess ducking the tax, so hopefully we think about improving because I think we have a chance.”
Did the front office heed the call from its franchise player of the last 10-plus years? Did they improve on the margins to bolster some holes in the rotation? Did they take a big swing to really go after things? No, you must be new to the city of Philadelphia. You see, instead, they actively went out and made the team worse in order to save ownership money.
Jared McCain to Oklahoma City for lukewarm draft capital is criminal. Here’s a guy who is a huge fanbase favorite and beloved in the locker room, who by every account, has an incredible work ethic to improve. So you sell him at an absolute low point in his value, for a draft pick in the low-20s and some seconds, with which you’ll be incredibly lucky to get a player in the future who is as good as McCain.
In the present, you can say McCain wasn’t having a great season, but he was still the team’s fourth guard. Who they replaced with no one! And he seemed to be rounding into form coming off the injuries. He had three games just last week where he hit four or more threes. Did you see how happy his teammates were for him in that Bucks game? And you just go out and completely kill all those vibes for a few million dollars.
There were good teams in the East who also made moves to duck the tax, but those teams also made meaningful improvements. They didn’t trade away a 21-year-old in his second season for picks that do nothing to help their current team.
What is Joel Embiid supposed to think? He has been killing himself to get his body back in playing shape to help this team, he literally issues a public cry for help for management not to cheap out again this year, and they say to heck with that, not only are we going to duck the tax yet again, but we’re going to ship off an incredibly well-liked player with nothing but upside in the process. Why is Joel going to go to war for a franchise that clearly doesn’t care enough to put his wishes over a couple more positive lines on the balance sheet?
I’m so frustrated with this organization. The McCain move is unfathomable, and they also do the Eric Gordon money-saving move, which is ultimately a big nothingburger, but you still shake your head that Josh Harris and company put in the call to find some more pennies in the couch cushions. And they spin it all as necessary to give Dominick Barlow a standard contract, when they could have done that months ago. None of this is about giving Barlow a well-deserved deal. They’ve been playing two-way day calculation games forever now in order to save money. They had an open roster spot nearly all year in order to save money (when another actual NBA player sure could have helped win games a few times). And now this senseless McCain trade to save money. It all comes down to money and it’s gross.
[Fans should be livid](/76ers-analysis/85808/philadelphia-sixers-trade-deadline-jared-mccain-luxury-tax-josh-harris). All the players on the team should be upset. They’ve been playing their hearts out this year and not only did no reinforcements arrive, but they sent a beloved teammate away. But I can’t help but think of Joel first and foremost, who said ‘Please don’t do this’ and they spit in his face by doing it anyway. I don’t know how many healthy-ish years Embiid will have left. I hope plenty more. But this organization sure is wasting one of them. I’m furious at them, and sad for him.
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