The Whiteboard: For Joel Embiid, it's time to put up or shut up

The Philadelphia 76ers are officially the worst team in the NBA. After signing Paul George to a max contract and drafting the Rookie of the Year frontrunner at No. 16, the Sixers are 2-12. It has been as ugly as the record suggests. There isn't much of a silver lining. Jared McCain is a bucket of sunshine, but the rest of the team has served as sleeper agents dedicated to destroying any and all joy related to the McCain breakout.

Two wins, again, through fourteen games for a Sixers team committed to competing for a championship. Daryl Morey handed out three max contracts this summer and scoured the market for veteran rotation pieces, adding Caleb Martin, Andre Drummond, and Eric Gordon to a supporting cast that many thought improved over last season. Everything on paper suggests that Philadelphia is a tier-one contender, but an unfortunate confluence of fate and self-destruction has left the Sixers fighting for their season — or more accurately, watching passively as it swirls down the toilet bowl.

This all circles back to Joel Embiid, of course. We can put plenty of blame on Nick Nurse, who has taken on the disposition of a petulant child at every media availability while running nothing of worth on offense and watching, awestruck, as his trademark defense gets executed with the precision of a child learning how to ice skate for the first time. We can also blame Paul George and Tyrese Maxey, both of whom have underperformed between bouts with injuries.

And yet, it's Embiid who has been at the center of the conversation, as he always is. Even with four games under his belt and a ready-made list of excuses at his disposal, Embiid has found new and, frankly, impressive ways to alienate the fandom. There has always been a healthy chapter of Embiid haters in the broader NBA fandom, but this season has seen Embiid really start to irritate the home crowd.

Joel Embiid has to become the leader the 76ers so desperately need

There's his performance on the court, of course. Embiid has made four starts, so let's not react too strongly, but 19.8 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 3.5 assists on .379/.167/1.000 splits isn't exactly up to par with the MVP's standard output. Embiid is always slow out of the gate, but normally this stuff happens in the first five games of the season — not a fifth of the way into the campaign.

We can't really blame Embiid for the alleged knee injury that held him out to begin the season, nor can we even blame Embiid for the aggravating mystery around the Sixers' injury management plans. When taking into account the recent revelations from Philadelphia's team meeting in the aftermath of Monday's loss to Miami, however, it's fair to start pinning some blame on the 30-year-old from Cameroon.

Embiid has apparently been late for "everything," including team practices and activities, per Shams Charania of ESPN. Tyrese Maxey called out the seven-time All-Star in a players and coaches meeting in the Miami visiting locker room, and Embiid allegedly took the message to heart. His response to the media, however, has been less than convincing. When asked directly about the exchange, Embiid deflected, instead turning his attention to the snitch who leaked it.

"Whoever leaked that is a real piece of s**t," he told reporters.

According to Jake Fischer of The Stein Line, there is a belief around the organization that Embiid is furious, and that he will attempt to root out the snitch. That's all good and well — Paul George also expressed uneasiness about how Shams got the report to begin with — but it reads as tone deaf at best for Embiid to focus on how the report came to be, rather than the substance of the matter at hand.

Speaking with the utmost love and respect for Embiid — this dude has been a cornerstone of my basketball-watching life for nine years now — he has always had a knack for sidestepping accountability. Embiid often vows to take the burden of winning and losing upon his own shoulders, but he's also extremely confident in his own impact. He knows the Sixers can't win without him and he acts like it.

Responses of this nature only serve to alienate Embiid from the folks who root for him. He has to be more mature, more explicitly apologetic, when years of tardiness and poor leadership are revealed to the public.

This is not a small, meaningless thing. It has become clear from other reports that Embiid's treatment of team officials and general timeliness have been an ongoing issue since the beginning. It's not something that happened once or twice. It's not a recent development. This has been the wrap on Embiid since his rookie season.

Never has Embiid been a natural born leader. He's a quiet guy who stays at home with his family and doesn't go out of his way to lead team activities. We've seen others take on that primary leadership role over the years — Tobias Harris for a while, Tyrese Maxey this season — but Embiid has always been able to lead on the court. And folks, he still can. The big fella's 35-point performance against Memphis on Nov. 20 was proof positive that Embiid still has it.

That said, the Sixers right now are a sailboat caught in a hurricane, hopelessly devoid of guidance. Perhaps a healthier Maxey and a healthier Embiid can help right the ship, but the onus really falls on Embiid to drag his teammates up the standings. This is a critical juncture in the myth of Embiid. When we look back on his legacy in 20 years, odds are we will be talking about the 2024-25 campaign and what it did — or didn't — say about his ability to pull the Sixers through adversity.

Philadelphia is still within a stone's throw of the postseason. The East sucks, and there is talent aplenty of the 76ers roster. All that needs to happen is a bonafide masterwork from Embiid. And he's capable of it. The MVP award is out the window. Nobody cares about the regular season. It's all about making the playoffs and getting far. In short, it's time for Embiid to put up or shut up.

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NBA news roundup:

• Franz Wagner is making his star turn, and last night's victory over the Lakers was his defining accomplishment. The fourth-year Magic wing tallied 37 points, 11 assists, and four steals against the home-team Lakers, including a nasty step-back, game-winning triple in the final seconds of regulation.

• The Timberwolves how have two solid wins over the last week (Sacramento, Phoenix) sandwiched between two bad losses (Portland, Toronto). In Thursday's stinker against the Raptors, there was a noticeable butting of the heads between Rudy Gobert, Julius Randle, and Anthony Edwards. Randle missed Gobert on a potential dump-off at the rim, which led the Frenchman to take a very pouty three-second violation on the other end. Edwards made his displeasure with Gobert quite evident. Minnesota's chemistry appears to be suffering after the Karl-Anthony Towns trade, as is the on-court product.

• As if there wasn't enough Joel Embiid drama circulating the internet already, the 76ers center has apparently taken issue with Philadelphia's injury reports. Embiid wants a "level of control" over how his injuries are reported in the future, per The Stein Line's Jake Fischer. This comes not long after Philadelphia was fined for misrepresenting Embiid's injury status earlier this season.

OKC just keeps on rolling with Isaiah Hartenstein's impressive debut

Isaiah Hartenstein made his long-awaited debut for the Oklahoma City Thunder in Wednesday's victory over the Portland Trail Blazers. This comes not long after Chet Holmgren suffered a hip injury that will sideline him for months, which forced 6-foot-5 Jalen Williams into the nominal starting center role.

Hartenstein came off the bench in his first game back, but it was a starter's level performance from the Thunder's $87 million man. The 7-footer dropped 13 points, 14 rebounds, three assists, and four blocks in 29 minutes of action, converting on 6-of-12 shots. His assist numbers don't do justice to how well I-Hart was reading the floor and connecting teammates.

That stuff is why OKC went out and got Hartenstein. He's a major boost to their physicality and rebounding presence, but Hartenstein is also a supremely skilled offensive talent — even if he's not hitting 3s. The Thunder are used to playing five-out, but Hartenstein's screen-setting and connective passing should unlock fun new wrinkles for head coach Mark Daigneault.

OKC is 12-4, second-best in the Western Conference, despite weathering several key absences and early-season struggles. Both Alex Caruso and Cason Wallace can't hit the ocean from the beach right now. That will change. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is once again floating around the MVP conversation, while Hartenstein's immense defensive presence should help paper over Holmgren's void for a while.

Even at less than 100 percent strength, this Thunder squad is very, very good.