Due to their abundance of injuries, should the Philadelphia 76ers consider tanking for the rest of the NBA season?
The Philadelphia 76ers are the No. 9 seed in the Eastern Conference with a record of 35-31 after falling to the Detroit Pistons on Thursday night.
In the game against Detroit, Philadelphia was without Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid, Paul George, Kelly Oubre Jr., Adem Bona, and Andre Drummond. The plethora of injuries to the Sixers' rotation raises an important question about how they should approach the remainder of the NBA regular season.
The 76ers can either look to stay competitive over the next 16 games or shut down their stars in hopes of tanking to get into the draft lottery. So, what should Philadelphia do?
There is a major problem with the latter option, which is the 76ers' pick belongs to the Oklahoma City Thunder (top four protected). This means for them to retain their pick, it needs to land in the top four selections.
The worst record Philadelphia can hypothetically finish with is 35-47.
With teams such as the Indiana Pacers, Washington Wizards, Sacramento Kings, and Utah Jazz making an obvious push for a top pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, it's hard to imagine the 76ers entering draft lottery night with strong odds to keep their selection.
However, anything can happen. Take the 2025 NBA Draft, for example, as the Dallas Mavericks had just a 1.8% chance to land the No. 1 pick and did.
Tanking is the far riskier approach but could change the 76ers' future if they get lucky.
The safer route is to hope V.J. Edgecombe and company can win enough games to keep the team in the Play-In Tournament. George can return on March 25, Embiid is being reevaluated Friday, and the earliest Maxey can come back is April 1. This means there is a world where the 'Big Three' returns to the floor at just the right time.
By no means is this option ideal, but it's far better than tanking, which would likely allow the Thunder to land yet another lottery pick.
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