The Whiteboard: It's time for the 76ers to tank

The Philadelphia 76ers have lost seven straight to fall to 15-27.

With Joel Embiid perpetually on the mend, the Sixers are quickly falling out of the postseason race. The 10th-place Bulls, who occupy the East's final Play-In slot, are now a full three games ahead of Philadelphia in the standings. By comparison, the Sixers are 2.5 games removed from top-six odds in the NBA Draft.

That is the crossroads Philly finds itself at: chase Chicago and a postseason spot, or tank hard and fight for draft odds. The Sixers' 2025 first-round pick is top-six protected, otherwise it belongs to OKC as part of the Al Horford trade. If the season ended right now, Philadelphia would have a 26 percent chance to keep its pick, with the eighth-best odds at picking No. 1.

Embiid looms large over this decision, of course. He continues to rehab a swollen left knee, which has plagued him all season. The former MVP was recently cleared for on-court work after suffering a foot sprain, but he immediately reaggravated his knee. It has been a vicious cycle of disappointment, with Embiid limited to just 13 appearances this season.

Philadelphia is 7-6 with Embiid in the lineup. Not exactly dominant, but that's on pace for a top-six finish in the East. The Sixers would be a postseason team, at the very least, if Embiid was out there, with the chance for something greater. Injuries have plagued Philadelphia's entire roster, not just Embiid. The lack of continuity and cohesion has been glaring.

If the Sixers can reasonably expect Embiid to remain "healthy" over the second half of the season, tanking will be hard. That just feels impossible, though. Something is deeply, chronically wrong with Embiid's left knee. The best path forward is to lay on the rest days thick, with a potential season-long shutdown feeling almost inevitable at a certain point. The Sixers need to tank, because there's nothing else to do.

76ers need to embrace the tank because it's the only way to salvage this dumpster-fire season

The Sixers can absolutely stick this out for a Play-In spot, but to what end? The Sixers' best-case outcome is probably getting bounced by Boston or Cleveland in the first round. Even my innermost optimist cannot fathom this Sixers team climbing out of this massive hole and accomplishing anything of substance in the playoffs. Philadelphia is 12 games below .500 over halfway through the season. Why even pretend at this point?

If the Sixers did, hypothetically, shut down Embiid and give him an extended runway to figure out this knee issue, Philadelphia wouldn't need to do much else to tank. Paul George has come up woefully short of expectations this season. Tyrese Maxey doesn't seem to have it. The entire team is disconnected and disinterested. That 35-point loss to Denver on Tuesday was a new low point, and Nick Nurse appears fed up with it all.

The Nurse factor here is especially interesting. It's hard to imagine the Sixers firing such an accomplished head coach after just two years, especially when he cannot shoulder the blame for copious injuries and the avalanche of bad luck thrust upon Philadelphia this season. But, at the same time, it feels like Nurse has lost the locker room. The effort has been abysmal for a team that cannot afford to lose games. Paul George and Tyrese Maxey have been out there enough to point out the absurd ineptitude of just 15 wins. This team, even without Embiid, shouldn't be this unwatchable.

Philadelphia is 28th in offensive pace and 29th in assist rate. Their offense ranks 24th overall and their defense 21st. Nurse's simple scheme has not translated to a patchwork offense of secondary "stars" and overpaid bench cogs. The Sixers are stagnant beyond belief, struggling to consistently collapse the defense and get the ball popping side-to-side. There's too much standing still, too many last-second prayers from Maxey or George.

This all would look better with Embiid on the floor, of course, but Philadelphia's over-reliance on the MVP big man stands out during these trying times. For all this talk of Maxey as a "point guard," he's in the 18th percentile for assists-to-usage ratio, per Cleaning the Glass. A lot has fallen on Maxey's plate without Embiid and he's just not up to it. He doesn't read the floor well enough. What makes Maxey special as a complementary star — his picturesque jumper, breakneck speed, and downhill, attacking mentality — almost becomes a weakness in this setting. He moves with as much purpose as anyone in the league, but once Maxey is rollicking downhill, he develops tunnel vision. He's taking it to the rim, no matter what the defense throws his way. Those advanced, split-second passing reads fans hoped would develop over time aren't happening.

Embiid's injury history is well-documented. You'd think the Sixers would try to devise a roster that can actually survive his absence. Maxey and George are excellent secondary stars who look totally aimless on their own. Kelly Oubre and Caleb Martin look swell next to Embiid as play-finishing wings, but their uneven decision-making tends to tank possessions when their responsibilities ramp up. Kyle Lowry is not a viable second unit orchestrator at this point in his career.

Jared McCain's injury was especially unfortunate, and his continued presence might've fixed (or at least mitigated) some of these issues. But, when your rookie is the only thing standing between a postseason spot and complete oblivion, something has gone wrong on the team-building front. Daryl Morey's grand plan is blowing up in his face.

So, yes, the 76ers need to tank. The postseason is a hopeless endeavor. This team should swap role players for draft picks, restock for next offseason, and try to maneuver its way into the top six of the draft. The pingpong balls might not reward Philadelphia in the end, but the Sixers have to try. The only way this season becomes remotely palatable is if the Sixers land a difference-maker at the top of the draft. Cooper Flagg would be preferable, but several appealing options exist. For all his faults and missteps, we know Morey tends to hit home runs on draft night.

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NBA news roundup:

• The Bucks "have interest in at least exploring" what trades for Jimmy Butler, Zach LaVine, and Bradley Beal might look like, per Sam Vecenie of The Athletic. Milwaukee needs to get below the second luxury tax apron in order to aggregate salaries in a trade, but it's clear the front office will not consciously waste a season of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard.

• Jimmy Butler has been suspended for two more games after he missed a team flight on Wednesday. The six-time All-Star is viewed as a "distraction" in the locker room, per ESPN's Shams Charania. The vibes are bad. It seems unlikely that Butler would make it through the trade deadline in Miami at this point.

• Lonzo Ball is "on [the Lakers'] radar" ahead of the trade deadline, per Jovan Buha of The Athletic. Recently picking up a couple starts in Chicago, Ball is looking more like his old self. The going price is probably a couple second-round picks.

Utah has something special in Isaiah Collier

The 2024 NBA Draft class was notoriously weak. Absent a Cooper Flagg and Victor Wembanyama, fans were left hand-wringing over the merits of Zaccharie Risacher as a potential top pick.

That said, for those with an active imagination and the longest view in the room, plenty of prospects were worth getting excited about. A personal favorite of mine was USC point guard Isaiah Collier, who ranked No. 2 on the final FanSided big board. He wound up as the 29th overall pick to Utah.

Collier's reputation at USC was rather complicated. He made incredible strides over the course of his freshman season, but skeptics often pointed to his uncommon reliance on physicality as a 6-foot-3 point guard. Collier's knack for power-driving through opponents' chest might not work so often against NBA defenders, they said.

It has not been the smoothest of sailing in the NBA — Collier is averaging 5.0 points and 4.7 assists on .351/.224/.605 splits in 20.9 minutes — but the beauty of Utah's situation is, the Jazz aren't trying to win games. That will mean more reps for Collier as the season progresses.

There will be plenty of stinkers, such as his two-assist, six-turnover outing against OKC's stalwart defense on Wednesday night, but there have been some genuinely impressive flashes since the calendar flipped to 2025. Prior to his quiet night in OKC, Collier put together three straight games of 10-plus assists. He's averaging 8.6 points and 7.4 assists on in 28.0 minutes this month. The efficiency still isn't great, but Collier is getting into the teeth of the defense at will and uncorking some genuinely impressive dimes.

There aren't too many point guards with Collier's blend of speed, strength, and coordination. He has a ways to go, but Utah will invest the time and resources necessary for Collier to work through the lulls and come out better on the other side. He was a big steal on draft night. Book it.