Have the Sixers Entered the Cooper Flagg Sweepstakes?

Have the Sixers officially waved the Flagg? 

On Monday, the Sixers suffered their eighth consecutive loss and 10th in 11 games to drop the team to 20–37, 12th in the East. The team is two and a half games behind the Bulls for the final spot in the play-in tournament. 

The team entered the season with championship aspirations behind its new-look trio of Joel Embiid, Paul George, and Tyrese Maxey and instead have been defined by injuries. The team’s star trio has played just 15 games together. Embiid has played in just 19 of 57 games due to lingering knee issues and Monday, ESPN reported that the Sixers and Embiid are exploring additional options with his knee, including surgery. 

“This has been a disappointing year,” Daryl Morey, the Sixers’ president of basketball operations told reporters on Feb. 7, crediting coach Nick Nurse and Maxey for the team’s threadbare postseason hopes. “I would say those two primarily and the rest of the roster have kept us in a spot where we can fight for the playoffs. We had a plan going into this year and I think Mike Tyson said it well, your plans are really good until you get punched in the face. And we’ve really been punched in the face this year.” 

The Sixers’ inability to get healthy has put the team at a crossroads. 

Even the possibility of Embiid and George (38 total games and his worst offensive production in years) getting healthy had the team dreaming of a long-shot playoff run. But Embiid’s poor health has raised the possibility of keeping the 2025 draft pick, which is top-six protected. The pick would be conveyed to the Thunder if it falls seventh or lower in the lottery. (The conditions were originally part of a 2020 trade that sent Al Horford to Oklahoma City.) 

Monday’s loss puts the Sixers a game under the Nets for the sixth-worst record in the NBA. The Sixers have a 37% chance of landing a top-4 pick and 9% odds for the No. 1 overall pick, according to Tankathon; they have a 46% chance of landing in the top 6 and therefore keeping their own pick.

They have a 30% chance of the pick landing seventh, which would send it to the Thunder. The Raptors have a two-game “lead” over the Sixers for the fifth-worst record; the four worst teams (Wizards, Jazz, Hornets, and Pelicans) are well ahead of the pack.

Despite his injuries, Embiid is still owed $248 million over the next four years, on an escalating contract that will pay out $55.2 million next season and increase to $59.5 million, $64.3 million, and $69.1 million over the following three seasons. George’s contract isn’t much team-friendlier: He’s in the first year of a four-year, $211 million contract that will also increase over the years, tightening the team’s cap flexibility.

Though the Sixers built a win-now team, their increasing haul of lottery balls has some Philly fans dreaming of landing Duke’s Cooper Flagg at No. 1 overall. Only five teams have better odds, and the flattened lottery odds—implemented by the league in response to Sam Hinkie’s Process—mean that no team has a better than 14% chance of getting the top pick.

Five of the Sixers’ 10 losses in this stretch have been by one possession, but the home loss to the Bulls on Monday was a 32-point blowout that saw Quentin Grimes and Guerschon Yabusele exit to injury, adding to the Sixers’ woes. 

Morey acquired Grimes at the trade deadline to help push for a postseason berth, but the team remains winless since making the deal. Former Warriors general manager Bob Myers potentially could join the team’s front office due to his relationship with team owner Josh Harris, according to Bill Simmons of The Ringer. Harris also owns the Washington Commanders, where Myers has served as a front office consultant since leaving the Warriors. 

The Sixers have the fourth-easiest remaining schedule in the NBA, according to Tankathon, making it harder to intentionally lose out. 

After Monday’s loss, George told reporters that the team’s play has shown no reason to believe a turnaround is in the cards as the regular season starts to wind down. 

“We’ve shown no signs of a team that will compete,” George said. “We just don’t have the habits of a champion or that a playoff-contending team would have.”