On July 6, 2024, the Philadelphia 76ers signed Paul George to a four year, $211 million contract. Pairing the multi-time all-star with Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey was done to hopefully bring Philadelphia past the second round, a feat that has not been accomplished since the 2000-01 season. Instead, Philadelphia has opened the season with a 2-7 record, their worst start since the 2016-17 season. This, and all of its causes, join an unending list of misadventures that have cursed Philadelphia for years.
The 76ers left the offseason very optimistic. Aside from acquiring George, they were able to add Caleb Martin, Andre Drummond, Eric Gordon and Guerschon Yabusele on relatively cheap contracts. Additionally, they managed to retain K.J. Martin, Kyle Lowry and Kelly Oubre at similarly low investments. However, none of this has added up to any success so far. The 76ers are a bottom-five team offensively and a bottom-10 team defensively, with both of their two wins coming by single-digit margins.
This disaster of a start can largely be attributed to injuries. Embiid has been playing with a surgically repaired meniscus ever since midway through last season, causing him to miss the first nine games of the season due to knee soreness. George suffered a bone bruise in a preseason game causing him to miss the first five games of the season, and now Maxey is expected to miss several weeks due to a hamstring injury. Injuries are inevitable, but for them to coincidentally fall upon the three best players on the team is cataclysmic. Embiid’s absence is especially brutal, as historically the team has taken a massive dip without him. Last season, the 76ers had a 31-8 record with Embiid playing and a 16-27 record without him. Philadelphia must hope that Embiid’s return leads to a recreation of this stat, as the team is currently on track to miss the playoffs entirely.
It is not just the stars that are disappointing, though. Oubre and Martin are playing nothing like they did last season, leaving the wing depth unreliable even with Goerge back in the lineup. Drummond has been a mediocre contributor, having the second most turnovers per game on the team despite being a low usage rate center. Even coaching appears to have taken a regression, with Nick Nurse continuously ignoring rookie Jared McCain’s clear talent to instead opt for the worn-out veterans of Lowry and Gordon. The only positive surprises have been Yabusele and Martin, even if the latter’s improvement has been marginal.
An unlucky season is nothing new to the sports world, but Philadelphia has been particularly unlucky in recent memory. Both the Eagles and the Phillies suffered embarrassing midseason collapses within the last year and the Flyers are, well, the Flyers. The 76ers have been uniquely cursed, however, since the “process” era started. When the Philadelphia 76ers first began tanking for higher draft picks, humiliating events like Bryan Collangelo’s burner account, the entire Ben Simmons and later James Harden drama, and now Embiid’s altercation with a reporter never could have been predicted. Not only have the 76ers failed to win meaningful basketball games, they have been the laughing stock of the league for nearly a decade now.
It is still early in the season, but 76ers fans who have watched Jayson Tatum’s 51-point game seven performance or Kawhi Leonard’s notorious walk-off game-winner certainly might be shaken. In a season where expectations were high for something new, it is crushing to see old habits return in the form of disappointing offseason acquisitions and constant load management. Philadelphia remains one of the most cursed sports cities in America, and in 2024 the Sixers do not look to be making that any different.
