NBA Mock Draft: Cooper Flagg is the only incentive 76ers need to throw in the towel

The Philadelphia 76ers enter the All-Star break on a five-game losing streak, which puts them 14 games below .500 and tied for the sixth-worst record in the NBA. That is an important milestone for this Sixers team.

Right now, Philadelphia's first-round pick belongs to the Oklahoma City Thunder, top-six protected, as a result of the Al Horford trade. If the Sixers aren't going to win games, it's in their best interest to bottom out and keep that pick — especially in such a talented draft class.

What the future holds for the Sixers is unclear. Joel Embiid and Paul George are shrouded in uncertainty on the injury front, which obfuscates what should be extreme optimism around the long-term outlooks of Tyrese Maxey and Jared McCain in the backcourt.

It has been a true season from hell for the 76ers. Embiid has missed 37 of 54 games to date. George has missed 22 games. McCain, once the frontrunner for Rookie of the Year, suffered a season-ending meniscus injury back in December. That injury came out of nowhere.

As things currently sit, there is a belief that Embiid needs another knee surgery in the offseason. George, meanwhile, has been receiving injections so that he can play through pain, which feels like a fruitless endeavor when he's making Philadelphia worse on the court and putting up performances like he did in Wednesday's loss to Brooklyn — two points on 1-of-7 shooting in 37 minutes.

It's about time to shut this thing down and regroup next season. And, in case the Sixers want more incentive, check out the lottery results for FanSided's latest NBA mock draft.

Subscribe to The Whiteboard, FanSided’s daily email newsletter on everything basketball. If you like The Whiteboard, share it with a friend! If you don’t like The Whiteboard, share it with an enemy!

76ers should commit full-throttle to Cooper Flagg pursuit as season falls apart

There's nothing left for this Sixers team to accomplish. Not this season. You can't stumble through 54 games without an iota of momentum or direction, then suddenly get healthy and win the championship. It would take something close to extreme luck for Philly to even survive the Play-In tournament at this point. The odds of the Sixers sneaking into the playoffs and running the gauntlet as a bottom seeding are zero. It does not happen that way. It never has.

Embiid is clearly not operating at 100 percent, nor is George. It would benefit all parties involved to sit them for the remainder of the season. Let them rehab, get right, then rest. Work on preservation. Do some yoga. Put those knees on ice for a few months and make sure Embiid isn't cutting, jumping, or pivoting until there is absolute confidence in his durability.

The best path to salvaging this version of the Sixers is to luck into a generational talent like Cooper Flagg. This probably doesn't equate to Tim Duncan joining David Robinson in San Antonio, but Flagg joining a hypothetically healthy and available Embiid — with George, Maxey, and McCain rounding out a star-studded starting five — is enough to bring a tear to a man's eye. This Sixers team may never prove durable enough to reach the mountaintop, but Flagg is a generational talent who will start his rookie season at 18 years old. He opens up a whole new window of opportunity for the 76ers' front office.

Flagg is an absolutely perfect fit on paper. The Sixers need size, physicality, and defense next to Embiid in the frontcourt, which Flagg can supply in ample measure. Offensively, he is a high-IQ presence who doesn't need a heavy workload to impact winning. Flagg would benefit from Embiid's gravity at the elbow, not to mention Maxey's ability to collapse a defense getting downhill. The Sixers can bring Flagg along slowly, as if he needs it, allowing him to finish plays in the lane, attack off spot-ups on the perimeter, and connect dots as a short roll decision-maker. He would tie the starting five together more perfectly than Kelly Oubre ever could, with all due respect.

This is what Philadelphia should be angling toward. At worst, the Sixers need to luck into Dylan Harper, Ace Bailey, or VJ Edgecombe — an impact talent to build the next generation around. The Play-In is a pointless goal. Gunning for the championship is straight up delusional. Bite the bullet and look ahead to a brighter future. It's the only way.