Like the 20 other teams not tabbed to play this Christmas, the Philadelphia 76ers will once again be part of the spectators as the league revels in its annual festivities. While that is far from the ugliest thing out there given that the team has actually been given some sort of a break, it is nevertheless very telling of the team’s current state.
Last season, the 76ers had a Christmas Game on the road against the Boston Celtics, which they actually won despite their year-long struggles. However, the league seems to have already turned wary of how unstable this team can get, and their omission from the Yuletide slate is basically a reminder from the league that teams will no longer get showcased out of precedence.
The NBA released the schedule for Christmas way earlier than the regular season slate, so the league had already predicted that the 76ers have a decent chance of not having the same narrative flair as they normally would.
76ers get a cold reminder from the NBA with this year’s omission from the Christmas Games
Last season, the 76ers were featured on Christmas due to their marquee addition in Paul George who joined Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey in Philly. This time around, there was very little reason to include them due to their unpredictable status even well before training camp began.
During the summer, the 76ers were completely silent about the status of Embiid while George re-injured his knee and needed another surgery. Maxey struggled for the most part last season and missed a good number of games due to injuries as well. Put simply, the question marks surrounding the roster were too big to ignore.
There is no doubt that the NBA was still playing the name game when it was plotting some of the Christmas matchups. However, those teams such as the Lakers and Warriors at least had some sense of predictability to them in that their biggest names — who are still huge crowd darlings, by the way — are easier to anticipate suiting up.
Well, it’s not like the 76ers are devastated by their lack of participation on Christmas. For some, if not most players, sitting out during one of the league’s most anticipated nights is actually a good thing for obvious, family-related reasons. But having said that, the league is sending a message to them with this decision, and this time, it was done rather justifiably.