The Philadelphia 76ers are about a week removed from being swept out of the first round of the 2020 NBA Playoffs by the Boston Celtics.
It was an ugly way for Philadelphia’s season to end. It also led to the departure of head coach Brett Brown and more questions about the 76ers’ roster moving forward.
The backdrop here has been a dominating performance from former Sixers wing Jimmy Butler against the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
Watching Game 2 of that series Wednesday evening from the comfort of his own home, Embiid seemed to send out a cryptic tweet. In it, he expresses unhappiness.
We stopped trying to decode Mr. Embiid’s tweets a long time ago. What we do know is that he was clearly frustrated by his teammates during their Round 1 loss to the Celtics.
While Butler was in Orlando dropping 40 points in a Game 1 win over Milwaukee on Monday, Embiid was tweeting about his former teammate.
Could the star center be upset over the player personnel decisions made by general manager Elton Brand last offseason? It seems reasonable. After all, the signing of free-agent big man Al Horford did not work out at all during his first season with Philadelphia.
There’s also another backdrop to all of this. Rumors continue to persist that the Sixers might break up the All-Star tandem of Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons. We have to wonder if this big man wouldn’t be too bent out of shape if that were to happen.