NBA Rewind: How can the Sixers and Suns salvage their uncertain futures?

New York Times

03-03-2025

We had yet another great weekend of basketball. We had big showdowns between some of the best teams in the NBA. We had dramatic games. And even more drama off the court. The theme of this week can't even be outright celebrating the good, surging teams right now. We leave that for the NBA Stock Report. For everything else, we're keeping an eye on where Philadelphia and Phoenix go next.
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Here's your latest NBA Rewind!
📈 Cleveland Cavaliers (50-10): For the third time this season, the Cavs have won at least 10 games in a row. They won their first 15 games of this season. Then after going 'just' 6-4 over their next 10 games, they won 12 straight. After that streak, they went 7-6. Now they've won 10 straight games again, and it's still going. This time, we can pick apart the competition and downgrade the run they're on. Until … we get to them blowing out the New York Knicks, taking down the Memphis Grizzlies, beating the Orlando Magic by 40, and coming back from a 25-3 deficit to beat the Boston Celtics. The Cavs can't be stopped on offense. Their defense is destructive. They could easily push this to 15 or 20 straight.
📉 Charlotte Hornets (14-45): First-time head coach Charles Lee tried really hard early on to get this team to establish a more serious culture. This is just a team full of unserious players. There is so little accountability within this roster, and you rarely see them string possessions together that bring a glint of hope for the future. Not even the long-term future, and it's not like this team doesn't have talent. They do. After winning three straight games in January, the Hornets have gone 3-17. On the season, they got swept by the Wizards. Four games against Washington. Four losses. Three of them by nine points or more. I don't care what the records are; the Hornets are the worst team this season.
📈 LA Lakers (38-21): Don't look now, but the Lakers are on fire. They're still trying to figure out everything with Luka Dončić on the court, and they're trying to get him back into the rhythm on offense we're used to seeing. Dončić hasn't really been all that good at making shots in a Lakers uniform. But it's not stopping the Lakers from winning. Their current successful stretch goes back before the Dončić era shockingly began. They've won 18 of their last 22 games, and they're up to second in the West. The Lakers went from being in a Play-In battle a month and a half ago to now trying to get home-court advantage against anybody not named the Oklahoma City Thunder.
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📉 LA Clippers (32-28): The Clippers are in danger of sliding into the Play-In Tournament. They're down to being tied with the Golden State Warriors in the standings, but their tiebreaker has them above the fray for now. The Clippers are just 1-5 since the All-Star break. Their offense is still atrocious, but now their defense isn't performing well either. All of this has been on the road, even the two games against the Lakers at their old arena when the two teams were roommates. Aside from a three-game road stretch against New Orleans, Miami and Atlanta in a week or so, their schedule isn't going to get much easier during March. They really need Norman Powell healthy right now.
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📈 Milwaukee Bucks (34-25): The Bucks have won five of their six games since the All-Star break, and it's six of their last seven if we include the game before the break. Even with Bobby Portis suspended for 25 games, the Bucks are finding ways to win these games. Most of those ways are happening on the defensive end of the floor. Milwaukee has the third-best defense since All-Star Weekend. They've taken down the Minnesota Timberwolves, Clippers, Miami Heat, Denver Nuggets and Dallas Mavericks during this seven-game stretch. Their offense has been middle of the road, but Doc Rivers continues to have them establish their defensive identity. I don't know if it'll work in the playoffs, but maybe staunch defense with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard saving the day on offense can create a deep playoff run.
📉 Minnesota Timberwolves (32-29): The Wolves picked up an important win against the Phoenix Suns on Sunday, but it only brought them to 3-6 in their last nine games. A lot of this has come with injuries throughout the rotation. Donte DiVincenzo missed a bunch of time but finally got back. Rudy Gobert hasn't played since Feb. 12 with a back injury. Remember he dealt with a back injury two seasons ago that limited his play and what the Wolves could do. Julius Randle finally got back to the court, which is just hit or miss in general. And the Wolves had a game without Anthony Edwards because he got suspended for getting his 16th technical foul of the season. They lost that game to Utah. A healthy Minnesota squad looks a lot better, and we are seeing the young guys on the roster inject some life. The Wolves just aren't out of the woods yet.
The Philadelphia 76ers are at a crossroads right now. We're not even talking about this season. The Sixers (21-38) would miss the playoffs if the postseason started today, although either the Chicago Bulls and Brooklyn Nets still have to accept the 10th spot in the East. There is a lot going on with the Sixers.
• Joel Embiid is done for the season, and he's exploring options to repair his injured left knee. He could have roughly six months to get it right before the start of training camp at the end of September.
• Paul George announced he's pausing his podcasting efforts so that he can focus on 'trying to get this team together.' Yes, all of the jokes have been made about this. No, you don't have to stop yourself from making them further. I'm not sure why George waited until the end of February to turn his focus away from podcasting either. It's fair to wonder if that's his decision or the urging of the Philly front office or maybe a combination.
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• Reminder that the team's biggest bright spot this season, rookie Jared McCain, is out for the season.
• The Sixers lose their draft pick if it's outside the top six. It's currently seventh, which would send the pick to OKC. That's if Philly stays in this position and doesn't get some lottery luck, of course.
The Sixers were hoping to bring George in, overhaul a good amount of the role players available on the roster, and compete for a title. Instead, it's a lost season for them, and their superstar looks as bad physically as his first two seasons, when he didn't even play a second of basketball. The Sixers should be tanking to protect their pick. They should be trying to get the No. 1 pick via some lottery luck. Realistically, the Sixers could get to the fifth-best odds in the lottery in May. That would drop them in the standings below Brooklyn (half-game) and Toronto (three games). It would give them a 10.5-percent chance of getting the No. 1 pick and a 42.1-percent chance of landing in the top four.
Let's say this happens and the Sixers do land a top-four pick in the draft. Or let's get wild here. What if they land the top pick? What if they end up with Cooper Flagg to add to this group? What does that mean moving forward? What would they be adding Flagg to in this hypothetical?
The Sixers can't possibly know what their future is. We know Tyrese Maxey is a really good player. Maybe even the second-best player on a playoff team. We know George is a good player, and we've seen him have both great and terrible postseason moments. What we don't know is whether Embiid is going to be available moving forward. Or how available he might be. The Sixers find themselves in the same situation the Clippers have with Kawhi Leonard. The plan is always to manage his injured knee, pray for the best, and hope he's healthy enough during a playoff run.
So far, it hasn't worked for either organization. And the Sixers don't even know what the operation will be for Embiid, let alone if it will work. The internet started kicking around the idea of a forced retirement exception the Sixers could file if Embiid's knee is deemed career-ending. In that scenario, the NBA and the union would have a physician assess whether this is career-ending. Remember Embiid still has $248 million coming his way after this season. If this ends up being career-ending, the Sixers could apply for this retirement exception one year after his last game (as of right now, that would be Feb. 22, 2026). If granted, that would wipe away the remaining years from their salary cap, and he'd have to be waived from the roster.
That's an extreme scenario, though. The greater reality is trying to maintain Embiid's knee health, make sure his body is right, and salvage whatever future is there for him and his team. I would imagine you can't trade him at any point in the near future. It's too much money for too many games missed. The Sixers have to hope this next operation is what finally cures the knee that has failed him over the past year (and before that too, but so did a bunch of injuries).
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The Sixers appear to be looking to maintain their draft pick in 2025, no matter what PG's podcasting plans are. They look to be building around Maxey, George and Embiid, even if that feels entirely murky. They'll have to decide if Nick Nurse is the right coach or their role players are the right role players for them moving forward. We know Daryl Morey loves to tinker with a roster. This is just wholly disappointing that Embiid was winning an MVP award two years ago, and now we're wondering how the Sixers even exist with him on the roster.
Let's keep an eye on the Phoenix Suns this coming week, shall we? The Suns are in a really bad place right now. Their 9-2 start feels like it happened during the Charles Barkley era. The Suns have been battling injuries and the concept of defense all season long. Once Kevin Durant went down with an injury early in the season, this team has struggled to keep its head above water. Recently, things have become dramatic in a way that doesn't feel necessary in the slightest. Add that newfound public drama to their 28-33 record, which puts them four games out of 10th in the West, and this team is running out of time to even get to the Play-In Tournament. Let alone find any success in the postseason.
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Chris Haynes reported on Friday that weeks ago, Suns coach Mike Budenholzer asked Devin Booker to tone it down vocally. He felt Booker was too vocal during timeouts and even on the court. He wanted to make sure his voice was being heard by the players, and Booker needed to give space for that to happen. Haynes also reported Booker was shocked by this. On Thursday, the Suns lost to the New Orleans Pelicans. Booker spoke at the postgame news conference about how to correct what's going on out there.
'It can be fixed with just a little bit more talking, I'll say. Things get tough, we get quiet as a team. From my experience and what I've seen, you know, that's not the way to get through it.'
He also said he'd prefer that two people say the wrong thing to each other on the court than to not say anything at all. He said he looks at himself first in these situations but also talks a lot. The timing of this report and what Booker said the night before definitely seemed like a leaked shot at Coach Bud. The Suns coach was asked about it, and he didn't deny any of the reports. He talked about how everybody has different ways of communicating and said Booker's high volume is a good thing.
Everything with the Suns is headed in the wrong direction, though. They are often listless out there, and they no longer strike fear into their opponents. I'm not sure if that happened last spring when Minnesota swept them in a first-round series the Suns were favored to win. Or maybe early on in this season, opponents realized the hiring of Budenholzer hadn't actually fixed any defensive issues. This team is cooked defensively. Only the Wizards, Pelicans, and Utah Jazz are worse defensively this season. Since Feb. 1, nobody is worse than the Suns at defense.
On top of that, the Durant trade deadline rumors appear to have brought out the vultures around this franchise. Just circling above, waiting for Durant to want out. He could be moved this summer, if the Suns try to restock some of their picks and grab some young talent to put around Booker. But that's not what the fate of this Durant-Booker-Bradley Beal trio was supposed to be. The Suns have the toughest remaining schedule in the NBA. Nothing is lining up in their favor to connote potential success on the horizon. Their next seven games are against the Clippers, a four-game road trip to Denver, Dallas, Memphis and Houston, and then a home game against the Sacramento Kings before heading to LA to face the Lakers.
Mat Ishbia bought the franchise a little over two years ago and got super aggressive with big changes. This team now looks on the verge of a complete organizational breakdown. With a luxury tax bill over $150 million, the Suns are on pace to be the most expensive failure in NBA history.
(Top photo of Paul George: Mitchell Leff / Getty Images)