The Sixers season ended in embarrassment, but also made something clear about Joel Embiid’s future

Maybe it needed to end this way.

Now, there can be no misconceptions about who the Sixers are. Not after the Mother’s Day spanking the Knicks administered to them on Sunday afternoon. To get swept at home is one thing. To do it in front of a largely pro-New York crowd is another. But the main thing was the manner in which it happened: quickly, loudly, completely.

One thing you can say about a team that ends its season with a humiliation as abject as the one the Sixers suffered in a 144-114 loss to the Knicks in Game 4: it can harbor no illusions. All prior accomplishments cease to matter when an opponent walks onto your home court up three-games-to-none and proceeds to hit 11 of its first 12 threes. There is no greater “is” when a team trails by 19 after the first quarter and by as many as 47 in the second half. The Sixers are who they were on Sunday. What they were was a long, long way from good.

The only question that matters is how to move forward. The Sixers are blessed that the answer is now clear. It may not be actionable. But it is beyond dispute. They can no longer afford to straddle the border between an obvious future and a past that never bore fruit.

From this point forward, the Sixers must operate as if their next championship will be won with Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe as their top two scoring options, and as their heart and soul. They cannot allow the presence of Joel Embiid to factor into any decision about their future. That includes the future of their roster composition, their style of play, the futures of their head coach and president. It includes the future of 36-year-old Paul George, and it includes the future of Embiid himself.

It is unfortunate to have to acknowledge such a thing. Embiid deserves better than to be judged on what he hasn’t accomplished rather than what he has. For six years, he almost single-handedly made the Sixers relevant, both nationally and locally. When he was on the court, they were a contender, and he was there a lot more often than most expected when he was drafted. He isn’t just one of the greatest players in franchise history. He is one of the most important. But that’s history. At least, the Sixers must operate as if it is.

They can hope for the best. All of us can. Embiid has always been a man with a heart and competitive spirit greater than his public persona suggests. On Sunday, a half hour after the end of his 10th professional season, Embiid sounded like a man who truly believes his second act has not yet ended. That his knee problems are behind him. That the injuries that sidelined him for Game 2 and slowed him in Games 3 and 4 were a result of an ill-timed emergency appendectomy.

“We came into the season thinking that there was not much left based on the last few years, and now I’m sitting here not even worried about my knee,” Embiid said. “Even after all the stuff that’s happening, people falling on me. Obviously, you’re gonna have setbacks as you go along, but those setbacks have been so much different than that has been in the past.”

The Sixers can’t afford to make that gamble. Their only choice is to proceed as if Embiid will be what he was this season. There were still stretches of greatness, most recently Games 5, 6, and 7 and of the Sixers’ remarkable comeback from a three-games-to-one deficit against the Celtics in the first round. But they also played Boston close to even in two of three games without Embiid, and then were blown out in a game where he was trying to find his sea legs. Less than a week later, those legs abandoned him again.

Two days after their Game 7 win over the Celtics, the Sixers were blown out by the Knicks in Game 1. Embiid missed Game 2. In Games 3 and 4, he was nothing close to a difference-maker.

The impact of Embiid’s repeated absences transcends the depth chart. It is more holistic in nature. In both the regular season and playoffs, the Sixers showed how difficult it is to develop any sort of continuity or identity when a player the magnitude of Embiid is constantly coming and going. They are a house divided: one kind of team when he is there, another completely different team when he isn’t. The first team is the one that can compete for a championship, in theory. But the second team is the one the Sixers most often have. And the transition periods between the two can look downright ugly.

“I’m looking at next year as being more available,” Embiid said. “I know if I’m available and I play as much as possible, everything else is going to follow.”

The danger is that Embiid’s availability ends up making a difference in the wrong direction. He will almost certainly be here for the 2026-27 season, in some form or fashion. He has three years and nearly $190 million left on his contract. There may not be enough draft capital in the world to convince a team to absorb that contract.

From a practical standpoint, Embiid’s salary limits the Sixers’ ability to build through free agency or take on salary in a trade. That could theoretically change if they found a way to trade George, who has two years and more than $100 million left on his deal. But it’s difficult to envision a deal that would make sense for both the Sixers and some other team. The real challenge for the Sixers is to figure out a way to lessen the extent to which Embiid’s presence looms.

There is a unanimous sense within the Sixers that they have a potential high-gravity, two-way, shot-making superstar brewing in Edgecombe. Embiid himself acknowledged it, saying “That guy is something different.”

When Edgecombe returns next season after a summer of adding bulk and taking jumpshots, he will need an opportunity to grow into an alpha.

George has done a fine job fitting into a complementary role. But Embiid is not a complementary player. He is a high-gravity player with his own teammates.

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The last time the Sixers actually looked like the theoretical version of their best selves was a 2024 first-round playoff series against these same Knicks. New York won it in six, but outscored the Sixers by only a single point in sum. Embiid was great. So was Maxey. The next summer was the summer the Sixers signed George, among others, thinking they were on the verge of competing for a title. Embiid has played a total of 64 games since, playoffs included.

To bet against that trend line would risk throwing good money after bad. Especially given Edgecombe’s potential, and the growth he needs to achieve it. The important thing right now is the understanding.

For the last four games, the Sixers have seen a championship-caliber team up close and personal. They saw it loudly on Sunday. The stop-the-fight-moment occurred five minutes into the second half. Knicks superstar Jalen Brunson weaved his way to the rim and brought the pro-Knicks crowd to its feet with a reverse layup and then, after an errant Embiid pass on the inbounds, drilled a three-pointer to put New York up, 99-70.

For the second time in four games, the starters were exiting the court early in the fourth quarter. The out-numbered Sixers fans were exiting with them. All that was left was an arena still remarkably full, its patrons clad almost exclusively in orange and blue, jeering the Sixers into another early offseason.