Daryl Morey planned on the decline of Paul George and Joel Embiid with the Sixers as the Heat land Giannis
The father of NBA analytics hoped PG-13 and The Process would win a title within two years. The designed obsolescence came to fruition. Now, as Miami adds the Greek Freak, the Sixers remain crippled.
At an early summer lunch just before free agency began two years ago, Daryl Morey mapped out the Sixers’ dream scenario.
If the Sixers could somehow land free agent Paul George, a future Hall of Famer who then was 34, Morey told a trio of esteemed scribes that the Sixers would open a two-year window in which they could contend for the Eastern Conference title, if not an NBA championship. The East looked relatively toothless.
To his credit, or perhaps not, Morey was being realistic. George had just made his ninth All-Star team and played in 74 games, but he’d also missed about 35 games on average in the previous four seasons.
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Further, Morey had modest expectations for Joel Embiid. Yes, Embiid had just made his seventh straight All-Star team; yes, he was only 30; and yes, he was one season removed from winning his MVP award. But Embiid underwent a second surgery on his left knee a few months before and was significantly hobbled when he returned. Nevertheless, doctors told Morey that, if Embiid was diligent with his conditioning and his rehab, with proper load management, he could resume his NBA career without significant regression.
Doctors aside, Morey was no fool. He told the writers that if he got two more really good years from Embiid, that would be a good enough return on investment. Overpaying on the back ends of contracts are necessary evils in the sports industry.
That’s why Morey signed them both to max contracts; George, a delightful surprise in July; Embiid, a necessary evil in September.
Disaster struck.
Embiid played in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris but, six weeks later, he reported to camp out of shape and so far behind in his rehab that he was unable to start the season. He needed further surgery in the spring of 2025. By the end of last season he’d finally recovered from the knee problem, but he suffered three more injuries: oblique, right ankle, and right hip. He has played in just 64 games in the last two seasons, including playoffs.
Predictably, George endured a slew of injuries in his first season as a Sixer, then, in an effort to recover from injury, he was suspended 25 games last season for violating the NBA’s antidrug program. He has played a total of 89 games as a Sixer, including the playoffs.
Which brings us to Monday.
Blockbuster
In perhaps the biggest transaction since LeBron James took his talents to South Beach 16 years ago, Giannis Antetokounmpo did the same.
The Heat and Bucks on Monday reportedly authored a two-team, blockbuster trade. Miami saw blood in the water, jettisoned its ballast, and attacked. Pat Riley, now 81, mortgaged a Heat future in which he likely will play a diminishing a role to support the chances of second-tier star Bam Adebayo.
Brilliant.
There have been other big deals, such as the idiocy in Dallas of trading Luka Dončić in 2025 to the Lakers, but Giannis is a bigger deal. He has two MVPs, a world championship, and an acceptable BMI. Luka has none of those.
Marcus Hayes alerts
With the Greek Freak on board, the East is ripe for Miami, and Riley, the Heat president for the past 31 seasons, knows it. After all, he orchestrated the last trade with this sort of effect, when he brought Shaquille O’Neal to Miami in 2004, then won a title with him in 2006. On Monday, Riley’s team immediately became a contender again in a vulnerable Eastern Conference.
The principles
Celtics? The patchwork Sixers upset the mighty Celtics in the first round of the playoffs.
Knicks? The hodgepodge overachievers, the most fun team to watch since Larry Brown pushed the Pistons to the 2004 title, ran off 11 consecutive wins in the conference playoffs to reach the NBA Finals, in which they wore down an inexperienced team and its inexperienced coach.
The Cavs? They collapsed due to the cold left hand of James Harden, who, to no one’s surprise, shot just 38.9% in the conference final against the Knicks.
The Pistons? Two words: Tobias Harris.
The Pacers? Two words: Tyrese Haliburton. He pushed the Pacers to the NBA Finals in 2025 but blew out his Achilles in Game 7. With all due respect to Jalen Brunson, if Haliburton returns at 100%, then he’s the best player in the East. How good is he? The Pacers’ 19 wins were second-worst last season, but with Haliburton returning, their DraftKings odds to win the East are 12-1.
Upon news of the trade, the Heat’s odds to win the conference on DraftKings improved from 12-1 to 6-1. That’s behind the Celtics, at 2.25-1, and the Knicks, who are at 3-1.
The Sixers? They’re still seventh, at 19-1, behind the Cavs, who are 13-1, after Tuesday night’s draft. The Sixers used their 22nd overall pick on Labaron Philon Jr., a 6-foot-3 sophomore sniper out of Alabama whom they hope will compensate for Morey’s deadline trade of popular second-year shooter Jared McCain, who flourished in Oklahoma City.
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Philon’s arrival did not move the DraftKings needle.
Don’t expect those odds to get any better July 6, when free-agent deals and proposed trades like the Giannis deal can be ratified.
All the Sixers will be able to do is watch.
They’re still saddled with the crippling contract of Embiid, now 32 going on 52, and is owed almost $188 million over the next three seasons.
They’re still saddled with the last two years and almost $111 million owed George, who is 36. A second positive drug test would cost him 55 games. Maybe he needs them.
He averaged just 14.5 points and shot 40.7% from the field when the Knicks swept the Sixers out of the second round — a sweep that, two days, later, cost Morey his job as president.
These twin albatrosses will haunt the Sixers for at least two more years. This, remember, is by design.
