The Philadelphia 76ers suffered one of their worst losses of the season against the Cade Cunningham-less Detroit Pistons.
The Sixers fell short by 13 points with each member of their Big Three (Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and Paul George) playing at least 30 minutes. Ironically, former 76ers forward Tobias Harris greatly outplayed George, recording 22 points and nine rebounds on 50% shooting compared to the veteran All-Star’s 14 points and one rebound on 60% shooting.
The 76ers were trailing by 29 points at halftime, which led to NBA champion-turned-analyst Kendrick Perkins coming to a blunt verdict about George and Embiid’s future.
“Trade them both,” Perkins said at halftime of 76ers-Pistons on ESPN’s NBA Halftime. “We’ve been talking about where Kevin Durant is gonna go this offseason with the Phoenix Suns. Same thing with the Philadelphia 76ers. Joel Embiid and Paul George are both in Tyrese Maxey’s way.”
Truthfully, building around a backcourt of Maxey and Jared McCain is not a terrible idea, especially if Embiid and George continue to have availability issues. There’s no telling what level of return package Philadelphia’s front office could muster for each after superstar Luka Doncic was dealt for aging superstar Anthony Davis and just one first-round pick.
“At the end of the day, these habits that Joel Embiid [has], like when you’re trying to play through injury, you have to go the extra mile outside the lines, and it’s showing, and it’s not there tonight,” Perkins concluded.
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