The strange thing about Joel Embiid right now is that the uncertainty around him has nothing to do with health.
That’s the part that feels new. Usually, the conversation starts and ends with whether Embiid can stay on the floor. This time, the question is different: even if he is healthy, what exactly does he look like in a lineup with Jaylen Brown and LeBron James?
That’s what makes this season hard to pin down. Where does Embiid want the ball?
Does he drift to the arc, pop into his favored mid-range spots, or roll to the foul line? Does he spend more time around the dunker's spot?
Or does he sit at the elbows and run the whole thing?
The ideal version of this group might not need Embiid to carry the offense at all. In that scenario, his biggest value could come on the other end, where he can rebound, protect the rim and move from spot to spot making plays on defense. That kind of role would ask for real sacrifice, though, and a different kind of discipline - especially if he’s not the one doing the fun part every trip down the floor.
That same kind of “what if” came to mind with V.J. Edgecombe.
During the Phillies' dramatic win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday night, I found myself talking through a stat line from Edgecombe’s game for the Bahamas against Panama in FIBA World Cup Qualifier play. He opened that one by making seven of his first eight 3-point attempts.
That alone doesn’t tell us much. A hot night is a hot night. It does not, by itself, define what Edgecombe will become for the Sixers in the 2026-27 season.
But it does open the door to a much bigger thought: what if Edgecombe’s 3-point shooting jumps into the upper 30s or even the 40s in his second season?
If that happens, everything changes. He would be a huge win for everyone involved, a major step forward from rookie year to sophomore year, and another big swing in a summer that already belonged to the franchise. And because of the way the roster would be built around him, he’d likely draw the defense as the weak link.
That’s where the whole thing gets dangerous for opponents. If Edgecombe becomes that kind of shooter, he’s going to see a ton of clean looks.
And if nobody can be left alone, then everyone has to be guarded straight up. At that point, the usual job of creating advantages gets a lot easier, because the advantages are already spread across the floor.
That’s why Embiid sits at the center of all this uncertainty. Not because the question is whether he can play, but because no one really knows what his role should look like if everything else around him is working. For the first time, there’s a real chance his offensive production won’t be needed in the usual way.
And that leaves the longest-tenured Sixer in a spot that’s tough to define.
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For 76ers fans, the context matters because Brown and Tatum spent years together as longtime Celtics teammates before Brown was traded to Philadelphia, and the rivalry carries a different feel when familiar faces are involved. There have been reports of tension between Brown and Bostons management, but nothing confirmed about a personal rift with Tatum, which leaves plenty of room for this rivalry to be viewed less as a breakup and more as a complicated basketball relationship that still has layers to it. [Read more 🡒]