If you’ve followed the Joel Embiid era in Philadelphia, you already know the Sixers have rarely done boring. The latest reminder comes as the 76ers get set to face the Boston Celtics this week, setting up the NBA’s first look at Jaylen Brown against Jayson Tatum since the blockbuster trade that split them apart.
The breakup has clearly left some residue. Brown says it’s not beef, but he also made it plain that he doesn’t want to talk to Tatum on Tuesday night. That kind of distance sounds familiar if you’ve watched how the Embiid-James Harden relationship unraveled in Philadelphia.
Embiid and Harden had real chemistry on the floor. Embiid was the MVP-level centerpiece, Harden the playmaker feeding him.
It never turned into a title, and the partnership didn’t last long enough to become anything more than a brief run. Brown and Tatum, by contrast, spent nearly a decade together in Boston, with Tatum around for most of Brown’s ten years with the Celtics.
They eventually reached the top together and won the NBA Finals, but even that success didn’t keep the relationship from falling apart in the end.
The Harden split started with frustration aimed at former 76ers President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey. When Harden publicly called Morey a liar in front of a crowd and cameras during the 2023 offseason, nobody was thinking about Embiid’s role in the fallout.
Around that time, Embiid kept saying he hoped to remain teammates with Harden. Tatum has handled Brown questions in a similar way this year, offering only praise when asked about his former co-star.
As veteran reporter David Aldridge noted on the NBA Insiders podcast, it’s easy to take the high road when you’re not the one who feels slighted by the team, and you’re not the one leaving town.
Then came the moment that made the distance impossible to ignore. After Harden forced his way to the Los Angeles Clippers, he came back to Philadelphia to face the Sixers for the first time in March 2024.
Embiid didn’t play that night, but Harden was asked whether he had stayed in touch with the big man. He nearly cut off the reporter asking the question and made it clear he and Embiid were not speaking.
Embiid later revisited the situation in July 2025 and confirmed they still weren’t on talking terms. He could only guess that Harden was upset because the guard “probably believed” Embiid had something to do with the Sixers refusing to give him the deal he wanted and said they had promised. Harden never said it directly, but the frustration seemed to be rooted less in what Embiid did than in what he didn’t do.
That part matters because Harden understood Morey’s power structure as well as anyone. Back in Houston, he learned that being the face of the team came with influence over roster decisions. If he wanted someone to stay, he could say so, and Morey would make it happen.
He had some influence in Philadelphia too, but Embiid had become Morey’s golden player. Harden may have expected Embiid to make sure Morey knew he wanted Harden back long term.
Embiid did say publicly that he wanted to keep playing with Harden, but he also drew a line when it came to personnel calls. That was for the front office, not him.
Harden likely wanted more than that, and Embiid chose not to go there.
Boston’s situation has a similar feel. It’s hard to believe Tatum was completely blindsided by Brown’s exit.
If Tatum had gone to the front office behind the scenes and pushed to keep the Brown-Tatum pairing alive, would the Celtics still have made the move to send Brown to their division rival? The idea that Tatum went to Brad Stevens and said, “him or me,” doesn’t seem to be the point.
But in most front offices, when the franchise face wants a specific teammate kept around, that voice carries weight. What Tatum didn’t do may matter just as much as what Brown thinks happened.
The Embiid-Harden split may not line up perfectly with Brown and Tatum, if only because Embiid and Harden never got beyond two full seasons together. That means the Boston fallout could linger longer before it ever gets resolved.
Still, there’s a lesson in how these things tend to go. Embiid and Harden, and even Embiid and Ben Simmons before them, showed that these ex-teammate tensions can soften with time. Embiid and Harden eventually shared a positive on-court exchange after a game last season, and this year Embiid said they are “great.”
Brown may not want to speak to Tatum on Tuesday, but that doesn’t mean it stays that way forever. For now, they just have to get through the awkward part first.
In Other News...
Joel Embiid Just Gave The Sixers Another Brutal Health Scare
Joel Embiid gave the 76ers another tense moment in their game against the Celtics when he took a hard fall and limped to the locker room before halftime. He did come back for the second half, which was the immediate relief Philadelphia needed, but the scene was a reminder of how fragile the margin is around its franchise center.
Embiid has already been working through plantar fasciitis and recently tweaked his ankle, so any new stumble naturally sets off alarms for a team with limited depth behind him at center. His status is expected to be day-to-day, but for the Sixers, the bigger concern is how often they can keep absorbing these scares without it turning into something more serious. [Read more 🡒]
Joel Embiid Is Back In A Debate Sixers Fans Dread
Joel Embiid gave the Sixers another uneasy reminder of how quickly a game can turn tense when he went down awkwardly against the Celtics and appeared to tweak his ankle before heading off the floor at halftime. He did return for the second half and even knocked down a three-pointer, but the sequence was enough to put Philadelphia back in the familiar position of monitoring every stumble, grimace and slow walk from its franchise center.
Bill Simmons added another layer to the conversation by criticizing Embiids reactions to injuries, a familiar and frustrating topic for a fan base that has heard plenty of outside commentary about its star. For the Sixers, the concern is less about the debate itself than the bigger picture around Embiids availability and how every minor scare seems to reopen the same conversation all over again. [Read more 🡒]
Sixers Face A Big Thursday Question With Two Stars Uncertain
Thursdays injury report has put a familiar kind of uncertainty around the Sixers home game against Toronto, with Joel Embiid listed as questionable because of foot management. The matchup already carries the usual early-season interest, but availability is once again the first storyline for Philadelphia, which is trying to sort out its rotation while managing key bodies carefully.
LeBron James is also on the questionable list because of back management, adding another layer to the nights uncertainty even before tipoff. The Sixers will also be without Adem Bona, who is sidelined by a cervical spine sprain, and Dominick Barlow, who is out with a back injury, while Toronto remains shorthanded too with Kawhi Leonard ruled out for at least another week because of knee issues. [Read more 🡒]