No retractions. No explanations. Just a single apology from amongst the media masses.
"I'd like to issue an apology to ... Joel Embiid because I didn't expect this. If you'd asked me this two months ago, I thought Joel Embiid was on the verge of retirement. Seriously. And now all of a sudden he's come back to looking like an All-NBA caliber player."
3 weeks ago, Kendrick Perkins issued this public apology on NBA Today.
He was the only one.
Some gave up on Embiid two years ago.
On May 3, 2024, after Joel Embiid finished a playoff series with a career-high average of 33 points per game, ESPN's Get Up published a video on YouTube entitled Embiid CANNOT be the FACE OF THE FRANCHISE - Stephen A. says 76ers should prioritize Maxey. Though the Sixers lost the series to the Knicks, it was arguably Embiid's most impressive playoff performance, as he literally had just one athletically-functioning leg and was still clearly the best player on the court. He played through a serious injury and gave the Sixers everything.
Turns out he gave a little too much.
The injury was aggravated to the point that he continued hurt the entire next season, unable to play in the majority of the games and turning in the worst statistical performance of his career for a season.
That was enough for Kendrick Perkins to say on February 7, 2025 that the Sixers should trade Embiid because he was only in Tyrese Maxey's way.
He wasn't the only one.
Still recovering from his injury, Embiid did not play to start this season. Maxey and the Sixers shot lights out from 3, and after just THREE games, national media, former NBA players, Philly media and Philly fans, unitedly, began one of the most emotionally-charged, passive-aggressive anti-Embiid, pro-Maxey hot-take campaigns that has been seen in recent sports history.
On October 28, 2025, local Sixers grass-roots YouTube content producer RB published a video entitled Tyrese Maxey Is Playing Like AN MVP… The Sixers Are HIS Team Now!
He declared after three games: "This is not a fluke."
On the same day, former NBA players Mike Bibby, Eddie House and Ty Ellis on their podcast said and agreed: "See, you say healthy Embiid, then you say Paul George and you say Tyrese Maxey last. It should be Tyrese Maxey first, then these other guys after that. It's Tyrese Maxey's team. And they got to make that clear. I said this last year. They have to make sure everybody knows that Tyrese Maxey is the head of the snake and everybody just get in where you fit in."
On the next day, former NBA player Paul Pierce said on his podcast: "When [Embiid's] minutes start to go up, can he accept the fact that this is Maxey's team? Because when you've been an MVP in the league and a dominant force, can you accept that fact that like this is [Maxey's] team now ... or do you have to be that guy? That's gonna be the key." Former NBA player Danny Green acquiesced: "I think he's passing the torch to him."
Former NBA player and current ESPN analyst Tim Legler, who prides himself on having organic Philly connections, on a different podcast, added: "This is Tyrese Maxey's team ... People in Philadelphia want this team to be called his team, and that transition is taking place right before our eyes."
Embiid, fitting in with Philly sports in general, had always been hated nationally, but this was new. It had become clear that the majority of fans and media members from Philadelphia itself had given up on Embiid, the sole reason for the team's relevance during the past decade. They were tired of his injuries and now wanted a reason to move past the Embiid era. Even though a healthy Embiid is arguably the best basketball player on planet Earth, just three games of Maxey's youth, energy and improved skill gave them all the reason they needed.
On November 5, 2025, Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Keith Pompey wrote:
"Joel Embiid will be remembered as one of the best players in the Sixers franchise. The 7-foot-2 center is the 2023 MVP, a seven-time All-Star, and possibly a first-ballot Hall of Famer. But through this season’s first seven games, this has been Tyrese Maxey’s team. He’s the vocal leader and most impactful player on the floor. The team basically goes as he goes."
Three days later, Philly reporter Kyle Neubeck wrote:
"The Sixers have this guy, Tyrese Maxey, who you may have noticed is pretty good at basketball. Their offensive identity is becoming more and more about him with each passing game, a reality that even Joel Embiid is buying into. But Maxey is making it easy to forget that this other guy was an MVP just a couple of years ago. He is now the player Philadelphia can hardly live without."
On November 21, 2025, on NBA Today, the host commented: "A lot of us said this could be a lost year if Joel Embiid isn't a full go." Brian Windhorst responded: "Yeah, we are seeing the birth of a superstar here ... which has enabled the Sixers to not think about Embiid." And Shams Charania added: "Maxey's essentially become the face of this franchise."
A week later, Tim Bontemps published an article on ESPN. Here is what it said:
["These guys give them the ability to move on from the Embiid and George era," a Western Conference executive told ESPN. It hasn't mattered that both Embiid and George have barely played ... The new era has arrived ... Philadelphia has traditionally looked lost without Embiid ... But to begin this season, coach Nick Nurse has established a clear identity, one that has gone from Philadelphia's universe revolving around Embiid to instead being centered on Maxey. That shift has ... made the 76ers incredibly fun to watch and have allowed them to remain competitive without Embiid in ways they were never able to in the past ... "They have to figure out how to maximize Joel," a second East executive said. "I don't think he can come back and look like he used to. They have to try to use him in a strategic way, where he can have some value to them, but you can't build the offense around him ...You look at where the league is heading, with the pace and the speed the game is being played. He was having trouble keeping up with it when he was healthy, let alone now."]
On December 1, 2025, Ramona Shelburne on NBA Today summed it up: “I think the feeling is that this is Tyrese Maxey’s team, and over the summer it started to turn that page because people just frankly didn’t know when Paul George and Joel Embiid would be able to play … and so the Sixers had to pivot—and it turns out Tyrese Maxey is really good and he is the franchise now ... Joel Embiid was the franchise. He has to see this as an opportunity and not a challenge."
And then came January.
Embiid started to recover from the injury and—shocker—he averaged 29.7 points per game, 8.4 rebounds per game and 4.6 assists per game, shooting 54 percent from the field, 36 from 3 and 86 from the line. The team was 10 and 4 with him and 0 and 3 without him.
But haters can be stubborn.
Though better in every significant statistical category than all other candidates, he was NOT selected to be Eastern Conference Player of the Month of January.
Though averaging more points per game this season than 18 of the 28 All-Star selections and though he played in more games this season than All-Star starter Giannis Antetokounmpo, he was NOT selected as an All-Star.
On January 24, 2026, the host of Road Trippin' Show asked 3 former NBA players: "Embiid had a 32-point triple double. It was his third game in a row with 30 plus. Are you excited with what you guys are seeing from Embiid lately? Could they be a dark horse in the East?" Former NBA player Channing Frye responded:
"Yes ... It's less Embiid and more Tryese Maxey. Just hear me out ... Embiid is going to be Embiid ... his knee is iffy ... He's actually trying to play a little defense ... He still falls down a lot but not every single time. But to me the culture of that team starts and ends with Tyrese Maxey ... Because Embiid has had this up and down, he can just come in and play Embiid basketball, and he's being unselfish. That, he could never have done that, a month ago, two months ago, [no way], okay that's [a lie] but [chuckles]."
Hilarious.
Fast forward to today and Joel Embiid over his last ten games has averaged 33.3 points per game, 8.6 rebounds per game and 5.2 assists per game, shooting 53 percent from the field, 53 from three and 87 from the line, with a whopping 65-percent true shooting percentage. The Sixers went 7 and 3.
In fact, the Sixers have now won just a single game without Embiid during the past 32 days.
Let that sink in.
A single game in the past 32 days.
During that time, they are 12 and 5 with him and 1 and 7 without him.
Now, the commentators and reporters who were so loud during the beginning of the season are dancing around the issue, pretending they didn't say what they said.
Sixers new rookie sensation VJ Edgecombe, on the other hand, told the truth when recently asked what the problem is:
"I'm gonna be honest. We miss Joel. It's that simple."
Time to be honest. It is that simple. Whether you feel you were justified or not, you were wrong and wrong loud. It's not about doubting whether or not Joel can be healthy. Everyone knows his health is his major flaw. It's about the incorrect basketball analysis of failing to realize that Joel Embiid is the most talented basketball player in the history of the franchise and if/when his health is really gone, the Sixers will most likely enter back into the pre-Process era of "non-contenders" for years to come.
Until the next Embiid.
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