Is "The Process" in Philadelphia finished?

Last Friday, the Philadelphia 76ers announced that the organization was shutting down star center Joel Embiid, a move that has come as no surprise to anyone who pays attention to the NBA.

For the 2024-25 season, Embiid only appeared in 19 games after struggling to come back from a nagging knee injury from last season.

Embiid’s injury history is very lengthy and spans all the way back to his “rookie” seasons, where a broken foot caused him to miss what should’ve been his first two years in the league.

The 2022 league MVP has never played more than 68 games in a season for his career, to put that into perspective that means he has not played 85% of a season ever.

This uncertainty with Embiid’s knee has led the Sixers to look into procedure’s that have been described as “radical”.

One of these surgeries is an osteotomy, which involves breaking a bone in the hip to realign the knee joint to relieve pressure. The average age for people who get this procedure done is 46 years old, just to show how bad his knee is.

Another big concern for Philadelphia is on the financial side. On September 20, 2024, Embiid signed a 3-year $193 million extension to stay with the 76ers through the end of the decade.

If Embiid’s recovery takes too long, it has been reported by NBA Insider Keith Smith that the 76ers could file for medical retirement.

Medical retirement is where a team consults with the NBA and independent doctors to rule if a player is healthy enough to continue their career. If it is deemed that that player cannot play, they will be forced to retire and the team receives salary cap relief.

A medical retirement claim can only be filed after a year of a player’s last appearance. In the case of the 76ers and Embiid, this would be February 22, 2026.

While medical retirement forces Embiid away from the NBA, some fans have called for Embiid to end his career on his own terms, or for the 76ers to move Embiid entirely.

While trading Embiid could be an attractive option to some, is any team out there willing to take an aging player with his injury history that also is super expensive to take on? I don’t think so.

The risk could pay off though. Embiid is an incredibly talented player when on the floor and if he could somehow stay healthy, the team that traded for Embiid would instantly be a championship contender. For this Sixers fan, it would be bittersweet.

Joel Embiid will end up going down as a huge “what-if” in NBA history. A ridiculously skilled big man that could do it all except for staying on the court long-term.

Embiid is an MVP, 5-time All-NBA selection, seven-time All-Star and two-time Scoring Champion. It is unfortunate that this is where we are when talking about him and his future.

Evan Pochas is a second-year studying broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email ejp5753@psu.edu.