Rumour: The Philadelphia 76ers Are Looking To Trade Joel Embiid Depending On What Happens In The Playoffs.

In the summer of 2014, the NBA was ecstatic to see the next potential superstar being Andrew Wiggins. Before he was drafted, the basketball world was stunned by his athleticism and his leaping ability on the offensive end. The high-flying young prospect was compared to the likes of the great Kobe Bryant, and some even said that he would eventually take the mantel of becoming the best player in the league. Andrew Wiggins was as hyped as Lebron James, and some might say even more. However, looking at the present day, it’s safe to say that Wiggins never lived up to the hype and instead shockingly plummeted, which was unprecedented. Even though Wiggins will most likely provide a team 20 or more points per game, which is decent, his efficiency in attaining those points makes you question why he is even shooting the ball at that alarming rate. A few seasons ago, Wiggins was taking the most shots on his team behind Jimmy Butler, and Karl Anthony Towns yet only averaged 17 points, which is quite disturbing.

To make matters worse, Wiggins isn’t even the best player to come out of his draft and instead would have most definitely been Joel Embiid or his former teammate, Zach Lavine. The 2014 draft as a whole was filled with all sorts of what-if stories, including, “what if Jabari Parker never got injured” or “what if a competent team drafted Aaron Gordon”. These stories make you think about what the future could have looked like in the NBA, yet the one story that was later resolved was, “How good can Joel Embiid be in the NBA”?

In the mid-2000s, the Philadelphia 76ers were a rocky team that needed a saviour. The 76ers were a laughing stock and needed to resurrect themselves with a superstar that can take them to the next level and started to rely on many prospects. This includes Micheal Carter Williams, Nerlons Noel, Jahlil Okafor, and even Thaddeus Young, who was an 18 point per game scorer in his final season with the team. At first glance, all of those players were headed to the direction of making it to an all-star game one day but instead plummeted very quickly. The 76ers were desperate for help and needed their final young prospect with a lot of potential being Joel Embiid to finally put them in a situation where they can be back on top. Joel Embiid exceeded expectations and is now regarded to some as the best center in the NBA who suffers from nagging injuries. Even though Embiid has accomplished a lot so far in his career and still has room to grow, the biggest threat to the Philadelphia 76ers is Joel Embiid.

If someone told me two years ago that Joel Embiid was going to be the biggest threat to the Philadelphia 76ers, I would have scratched my head and walked away. However, the sad reality is, Embiid is the biggest threat to the 76ers due to several reasons. In the 2019 NBA playoffs, Kawhi Leonard of the Toronto Raptors decimated everyone that he faced and ended up winning the NBA championship, which was quite shocking. Although it was a needed reminder for some people to know how great Kawhi Leonard truly is, the one series where the Raptors looked incredibly vulnerable was the semi-conference finals where they faced the Philadelphia 76ers who some believed would defeat the Raptors. This series was neck and neck, as every single ticking second was crucial to the team’s success. Every little thing mattered, and it came down to a historical bounce that iced the series in seven games. This game seven buzzer-beater left the 76ers motionless and left in agony. Joel Embiid was the most expressive during this time as he left the arena in tears. Fast forward to the beginning of the 2019-20 off-season Joel Embiid was scarred for life and was looked to enter this season with revenge. I firmly believed that Joel Embiid was going to play his best season and would have been an MVP candidate solely due to that game seven-shot that prevented Philadelphia from making it to the conference finals, and even some might say the NBA finals. However, this was not the case as Embiid regressed severely and wasn’t contributing enough to winning games. The 76ers are easily the most disappointing team this season as they were projected to be first seed in the Eastern conference, and many analysts felt that this was the team to make it to the NBA finals. However, due to COVID-19, no one knows what could have happened as both Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid were out due to injuries with no sign of return. The 76ers were at a rocky state but, if the season does return (which is most likely going to happen), the 76ers would have a healthy roster, which would make the rest of their season quite interesting. Regardless of the season finishing or not, the 76ers would still have spacing problems and chemistry issues, which were the main two reasons why this team suffered. Joel Embiid is a superstar caliber player that needs a new environment to flourish into the player that we all know he can be. The 76ers would have been a much better team if they rebuild around Embiid rather than trying to make a duo that simply cannot work. Even though Joel Embiid is the best player on the 76ers, Ben Simmons is the most valuable player and should be the focal point of this team going forward. 

Earlier this season, Joel Embiid had a terrible injury and broke his finger but still played the rest of the game. Following that game, the 76ers announced that Joel Embiid would be sidelined until further notice, which was problematic, or was it? With their superstar sidelined for multiple weeks, the next best option for this team to remain in contention was Ben Simmons. Before Embiid’s injury, Simmons was having a solid year nonetheless but failed to show any real improvement on the court. Even though that three-point shot against the New York Knicks was exciting, that shot was probably the biggest highlight for him this season. Simmons numbers were decent before Embiid’s injury, however, once he took the mantel of the first option on his team, his numbers started to skyrocket as he averaged, 21.6 points, 9.3 rebounds, 7.9 assists, and an astonishing 2.3 steals a game! Those numbers suggest that having Joel Embiid as the first option stunts the growth and production level of Ben Simmons. Although Joel Embiid is incredible as is, he is also a liability on the court as he cannot stay healthy. Even though Ben Simmons has had a fair share of injuries he had to overcome, his overall production on the court can be a lot more impactful then Joel Embiid’s due to his height, athleticism, the position he plays, and his play making. 

When looking at Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks, the reason why they are the best team (record-wise) in the league is that the Bucks have successively built the perfect team around Giannis. From three-point shooting to terrific defense, the Bucks have provided the ideal complement for Giannis’s game as he now has the comfortability to drive inside the paint and pass it to any of his teammates for a three-point shot if he is tightly guarded. Even though Giannis is a talent of his own, basketball games are won with team chemistry and smooth play making and never individually. Playing hero basketball doesn’t win basketball games anymore unless your Kobe Bryant or Micheal Jordan, but even they had a worthy sidekick, they would pass it too (and no, I’m not talking about Shaquille O’Neal). A perfect example of this was last season in the playoffs where OKC were the favourites to win their first-round match-up against the Portland Trailblazers but ended up losing in five games. Their failure exploded in front of their eyes solely because OKC didn’t play like a team and instead relied on playing hero basketball, which crushed OKC’s chances of making it past the first round. The Milwaukee Bucks are the complete opposite of this and rather than playing hero basketball, they work as a unit with the driving force of Giannis Antetokounmpo. The 76ers can emulate this as they also have a player on their roster with a similar driving force. While Giannis plays with aggression and overall brute strength, Ben Simmons is a shifty play maker who has the athleticism of Giannis and the play making ability of Chris Paul while also being a 6-foot 10 point guard! That’s a lot to take in and makes you wonder why the 76ers haven’t utilized their biggest weapon yet. The NBA saw what Ben Simmons could do when he is the first option on his team, and it makes you wonder what the 76ers could be if they built a team of shooters and perimeter defenders. The 76ers could trade away Joel Embiid for a reliable shooter that can play alongside Ben Simmons. Instead of trading away Al Horford, who had a step-back this season, the 76ers could put Horford back to his natural position at center and allow him to dominate the paint defensively while shooting the three-point shot efficiently. Tobias Harris, this season has also been efficient overall and would be a sufficient piece to play alongside Ben Simmons. The 76ers would most likely attain some shooting depth like the Marco Bellinelis of the world to strengthen their shooting depth. I believe that if the Philadelphia 76ers properly built a team solely around Ben Simmons, the 76ers would find success and would be a legit threat against the Bucks and the Celtics. The 2019-20 season was supposed to have been Joel Embiid’s moment to strike back but instead, regressed exponentially. Even though the 76ers weren’t precisely winning every game with Simmons leading the charge, the idea of his play making ability and athleticism alongside elite or above average shooters can cause enough chaos in the Eastern Conference. If you built a team full of shooters alongside Ben Simmons, the 76ers would become a legit threat for the NBA title, in my opinion. 

The 76ers have found decent success with the duo of Simmons and Embiid as they managed to make the semi-conference finals twice. Even though that shot by Kawhi Leonard was pure luck, history shows that the 76ers lost, and the Raptors won. Despite Joel Embiid easily being not only the best player on his team but also the best center in the league (some would argue), Ben Simmons would flourish a lot more if he was given the right system to play in. In my opinion, Ben Simmons needs the right system and coaching to elevate his rank from All-Star to Superstar. Simmons is a force to be reckoned with and needs to be placed on a team where he can express his skill set. His stamina and athleticism is beyond comprehension and needs to be taken seriously instead of pushing his talents aside for a superstar center that cannot stay healthy. The 76ers need to take action now and need to trade away Joel Embiid as he is not only hindering Simmons growth and impact but also costing the 76ers success due to his nagging injuries that prevent him from missing 20 or more games. Simmons is injury prone to some degree, but he does not come close to the number of injuries Joel Embiid has had throughout his career. Ben Simmons, in my opinion, can be the saviour of this team if he is in the proper system filled with three and D type players. Its time the 76ers realize who their best player is to build a contending team around which is Ben Simmons and not Joel Embiid.