What’s the current state of these Philadelphia 76ers? Tenuous.

The 76ers braced for a season of tension after James Harden stated he would never again play for Daryl Morey, the team’s president of basketball operations.

They certainly did not envision their current state.

The Sixers did not know they’d be without reigning MVP Joel Embiid and defensive standout De’Anthony Melton for long stretches. Nor could they have foreseen a regular-season slog testing them in ways reminiscent of The Process.

» READ MORE: Sixers’ James Harden: ‘Daryl Morey is a liar and I will never be a part of an organization that he’s a part of’

Embiid and Co. started the season dealing with the Harden distraction before the disgruntled guard was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers on Nov. 1. But that trade — combined with the emergence of Tyrese Maxey and Embiid’s dominance — created a lot of optimism. And on Jan. 22, a sellout Wells Fargo Center crowd of 20,511 witnessed Embiid scoring a franchise-record 70 points to go with 18 rebounds and five assists in a 133-122 victory over the San Antonio Spurs.

The performance marked the first time in NBA history that a player had registered at least 70 points, 15 rebounds, and five assists in a game. At the time, Embiid’s point total was also an NBA season-high.

Most importantly for the Sixers, that victory extended their winning streak to six games; at 29-13, they were third in the Eastern Conference, a half-game behind second-place Bucks.

Embiid was well on his way to a second straight MVP. He and Maxey were the league’s top-scoring tandem. And the Sixers were recognized as one of the NBA’s deepest teams. They appeared to have a legitimate chance to advance to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 2001.

Or so we thought.

Embiid’s fate and the team’s changed three nights later in a 134-122 setback to the Indiana Pacers at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

The seven-time NBA All-Star scored 31 points to extend his streak of 30-plus-point performances to 22 games. However, he fell awkwardly and grabbed his left knee during the game. Even before then, Embiid, who had been dealing with a bad knee all season, was sluggish and couldn’t move on defense. He was a minus-20 in 31 minutes, 17 seconds on the floor.

While he remained in that game, Embiid missed the next two. Upon his return on Jan. 30, he tore the meniscus in the knee in a 119-107 loss to the Golden State Warriors at the Chase Center and required surgery. The Sixers hope Embiid will return the first or second week of April.

If he does return then, there will be seven or fewer games left in a season that has slipped away.

Since his 70-point outing, the Sixers had lost 17 of 24 games before Saturday’s 109-108 home victory over the Charlotte Hornets. They improved to 37-30 and moved up to seventh place in the conference standings with 15 games remaining.

» READ MORE: The Sixers had a chance to prove themselves without their stars. They hit rock bottom instead.

The Sixers are tied for their worst record through 67 games since the 2017-18 season. And they hadn’t been this low in the standings at this stage since being in 13th place through 67 games during the 2016-17 campaign.

Asked if he was keeping a close eye on the standings, Sixers swingman Kelly Oubre Jr. said: “I can’t, man. I see where we were at the beginning of the season. And when I do look at it, it makes me nauseous. So I can’t really do that. But I do try to keep up with the games around the league to make sure who we have next and who’s coming up next, who’s hot.”

The contest against the Hornets — the league’s fourth-worst team — provided their best opportunity to provide a much-needed victory until they face the struggling Toronto Raptors at Scotiabank Arena on March 31.

In the meantime, the Sixers will have seven tough contests: against the Miami Heat (Monday at home), then heading west to face the Phoenix Suns (Wednesday), the Los Angeles Lakers (Friday), the Clippers (March 24), and the Sacramento Kings (March 25), before returning home to face the Clippers (March 27), then heading back out to take on the Cleveland Cavaliers (March 29).

But Oubre thinks the Sixers are close to getting back on track.

“Every day is a new day,” he said. “We always look at it that way. We wake up every day, and the day prior is gone. Now today is a new day. It’s a new opportunity to win. And the next day we have a game, it’s another day to get a win as well.

“So it’s one game at a time. I understand where we are and the games that we have dropped, but it’s a completely different culture here. A lot of different guys stepping up to different roles. Things are completely different. So we just have to continue to stay confident.”

» READ MORE: The Sixers’ Kyle Lowry will consider his legacy when he’s done playing, not a moment sooner: ‘I’ll reflect on it once I retire’

Things are completely different because the squad has had two makeovers since training camp.

The first came with the Harden trade, when the Sixers acquired Marcus Morris Sr., Nico Batum, Robert Covington, and KJ Martin from the Clippers in exchange for Harden, P.J. Tucker, and Filip Petrusev.

Covington (left knee bone bruise) hasn’t played since Dec. 30. Melton (spine) has played only five times since that date. Meanwhile, the Sixers traded Morris to the Spurs and Furkan Korkmaz to the Indiana Pacers in exchange for Buddy Hield in a three-team trade on Feb. 8.

The Sixers also traded Patrick Beverley to the Bucks for Cam Payne. Danuel House Jr. (Detroit Pistons) and Jaden Springer (Boston Celtics) were also moved in separate trades. The Sixers also signed Kyle Lowry on Feb. 13.

The team lost a lot of toughness with the departures of Beverley, Morris, House, and Springer. Good teams are having an easier time defending Maxey in the fourth quarter by blitzing him since Embiid has been sidelined. In addition to having a swollen and sprained right ankle, Tobias Harris is in the midst of a rough shooting stretch. After a solid start, Hield hasn’t lived up to the lofty expectations. Maybe that will change when and if Embiid returns.

But for now, the Sixers are worse since the trade deadline. And they’re nowhere near the team they were in January.

In a way, the current product has sunk to being closer to the tanking Sixers than to the squad that averaged 50 wins during the past six seasons.