This one wasn’t hard to see coming.

After Saturday night’s loss to the Brooklyn Nets (which included Joel Embiid sitting in the fourth quarter), the reports are surfacing. It feels like we’re just days away from the “Embiid headed for surgery, out for the season” announcement.

And while it’s perfectly normal to feel bummed, have empathy for Embiid as a person and player, and bemoan another disappointing and lost Sixers season, there is a silver lining that’s about ready to emerge.

For the first time in too long, the present and future of the Sixers isn’t about Embiid.

Sure, that might make you feel sad, especially if you connected Embiid to the process and looked as his success as the linchpin of an original plan succeeding. But liberation from the career trajectory of someone with Embiid’s track record can also be freeing, if the franchise handles it correctly.

When this offseason arrives, the decision makers (perhaps Daryl Morey, perhaps someone else) must live in this truth: Embiid is no longer the sun, the moon, and the stars for this franchise. The team is now about Tyrese Maxey, Jared McCain and (hopefully) top six-protected pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. At this point, anything received on the court or through trade for Embiid (or Paul George for that matter) is a bonus. It’s no longer expected.

Every offseason since Embiid made his presence known as a star has been about trying to piece the right fits around him, maximizing his health and trying to build a championship team with him as the centerpiece. It once made sense. It became admirable. Those days are now over.

Let’s wish Embiid a quick recovery. Maybe he can return to form, and give the Sixers an added boost in the final years of his contract. Maybe he can be traded to a team willing to gamble on his health, and the Sixers can use the return to build a deep, young, contending team, which could be the most fitting end for what this whole thing was supposed to be.

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