The 76ers have numerous questions and limited flexibility.
All they can do is hope to get healthy, and Quentin Grimes takes his qualifying offer or one-year balloon deal.
It is not an ideal situation for a team looking to compete in a wide-open NBA Eastern Conference. But for the Sixers, it is normalcy. Every year, it is about Joel Embiid’s health. And this is the third time in five years that a player skipped out on media day.
Grimes, an unrestricted free agent, missed Friday’s festivities and is scheduled to miss the team’s upcoming trip to Abu Dhabi to face the New York Knicks in exhibition games on Thursday and next Saturday.
The Sixers and the shooting guard are far apart on a deal. Grimes is seeking a contract worth $25 million annually, while the Sixers formerly offered a four-year, $39 million contract. If no agreement is reached, Grimes could pick up his one-year, $8.7 million contract. The deadline to do so is Wednesday.
» READ MORE: Daryl Morey hopes Quentin Grimes contract situation will be resolved ‘in the next few days’
“I will say I think we will get to a resolution in the next few days, hopefully,” Morey said of signing Grimes. “But we’re excited to bring him back. Quentin is a big part of what we are trying to do now and into the future if we can get things resolved.”
Assuming Grimes’ contract is settled, he could play sooner than Embiid (left knee), Paul George (left knee), and Jared McCain (right thumb), who return from injuries.
The Sixers still don’t know when Embiid will play or not play this season. Meanwhile, George has yet to participate in full-contact drills and won’t be able to scrimmage when training camp opens on Saturday. And the Sixers are still consulting with specialists for the next steps for McCain, who suffered a UCL tear in his right thumb Thursday during a workout.
“With the hand, there’s doctors and specialists and everything, but hand injuries are very specialized,” Morey said. “Still gathering that feedback, but we know Jared’s going to attack this just like he did the last one and be back even better.”
McCain was returning to the court after having his rookie season ended with a torn meniscus in his left knee in December.
Nothing changes when it comes to the Sixers, who have been hamstrung by injuries the last several seasons.
Last season, the Big Three of Embiid, George, and Tyrese Maxey were only on the court for a combined 15 games.
Embiid played just 19 games before ultimately undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his left knee at NYU Langone Sports Medicine Center on April 9. The surgery followed the Sixers’ determination on Feb. 28 that Embiid was medically unable to play and would remain sidelined for the remainder of the season to focus on treatment and rehabilitation.
Meanwhile, George underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee on July 14 at the same hospital.
The surgery came after George suffered the injury during a workout a few days earlier. Unfortunately for the 6-foot-8 forward, injuries have been the norm during his short stint with the Sixers.
» READ MORE: Joel Embiid, Paul George taking ‘day-by-day’ approach to injury recoveries with Sixers
The 35-year-old was ruled out for the remainder of the 2024-25 season on March 17, the day he received injections in the left adductor muscle in his groin and his left knee.
Before the procedure, George had sat out the previous six games while consulting with doctors on treatment options for his ailments. His first season with the Sixers was cut short after he played in only 41 games.
Meanwhile, Embiid’s procedure was his second surgery on the knee in 14 months and the third in nine seasons. He had surgery on Feb. 6, 2024, after suffering a torn meniscus in his knee eight days earlier in a game against the Golden State Warriors.
Embiid and George were both hurt at the start of last season. Lacking continuity, the injury-plagued squad began the season with a disappointing 2-12 record and never recovered.
Toward the end of the season, the Sixers opted to tank as a way to keep their protected first-round pick while finishing with the league’s fifth-worst record of 24-58. They used the pick to select guard VJ Edgecombe third overall in the June NBA draft.
The toughest thing for the Sixers is their style of play. In the past, they’ve played a certain style when Embiid played and a different way when he wasn’t on the floor.
But …
“We’re trying to create an identity where, no matter who plays — if I’m not playing, Jo’s not playing, Jared’s not playing, Paul’s not playing,” Maxey said. “The 76ers are going to play this way every single night. No matter who’s out there, we’re going to compete and we’re going to play hard. That’s what we’re going to do. That’s what it comes down to.
“So it’s not, ‘Oh, we’ve got to rely on one thing, and you’re not playing, so we’ve got to change our whole thing.’ Nah. We’re going to play the same way every single night. And of course there’s little stipulations to it. When Joel plays, of course they’re going to double and they’re going to do a lot of different things, but our base needs to be the same every single night. That’s the biggest thing that we’ve been working on.”
Morey and coach Nick Nurse echoed what Maxey said of playing a certain style of play no matter who’s on the floor. The only problem is that, when healthy, Embiid is one of the hardest players to guard. No offense to reserve centers Andre Drummond and Adem Bona, but the Sixers aren’t remotely the same team without the seven-time All-Star.
And they’re going to need a healthy Embiid and George for any chance of advancing deep in the postseason.
“It doesn’t set us back at all,” Nurse said of the duo being sidelined. “We’re not going to let it set us back. Again, I’ll reiterate how much work we did this summer. We’ve added some new speed, quickness, athleticism that we feel really good about. I think there’s a lot of guys that we know can be in the rotation on a good NBA team.
“So we’re just going to keep working tomorrow [at training camp.] I know it’s official that we get to work tomorrow … and establish this style of play. Make sure that we’re giving tremendous effort each and every day and playing extremely hard each and every night.”
While the Sixers are optimistic, the start of this season is sure reminiscent of seasons past.