The Philadelphia 76ers place two more players in COVID protocol

*sigh*

The Philadelphia 76ers are a team in crisis.

Not because their point guard refuses to play, or because their roster lacks proper parity, or even because their coach appears incapable of running an end-of-game set that works, mind you. No, the Sixers are in crisis because they can’t seem to field a healthy roster for more than a few games, a problem that will persist for a few more weeks thanks to a new in-team COVID outbreak.

Now I know what you’re thinking, didn’t we already deal with this? Didn’t the Sixers have to suffer through half of November without Joel Embiid, Tobias Harris, and Matisse Thybulle? Yes, yes we did, and now we’re about to do it again, as Andre Drummond and Shake Milton have joined Georges Niang in protocol, and will be out for the foreseeable future.

Needless to say, not a particularly sunny day for the Philadelphia 76ers.

A lack of continuity has seriously stifled the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Philadelphia 76ers have played 30 games this season. Unsurprisingly, the team hasn’t had a single player appear in all 30, with Andre Drummond currently headlining the appearances list at 29, with Tyrese Maxey and Georges Niang following close behind on at 28, and Seth Curry and Furkan Korkmaz at 27.

Ideal? Hardly, but with all of those players plus Shake Milton but minus Maxey either out with illness (Korkmaz) or in COVID protocol, the absences are going to start racking up in a hurry.

Factor in Maxey’s quad injury, Joel Embiid’s rib injury, and Danny Green‘s still not 100 percent hip, and if the Sixers take the court against Brandon Ingram and the New Orleans Pelicans tonight, it’ll be without a minimum of seven players, an issue made all the more dire thanks to prominent Blue Coats players being in Los Vegas for the G-League showcase.

Could we see a game a la the Seven Sixers of 2020-21, where Philadelphia has to put an injured player on the bench in a uniform to technically field a healthy roster? Not only could we, but we all but surely will unless Paul Reed can get Meek Mill’d into a private jet and shipped across the country over the next six-ish hours.

Considering the brutal combination of jetlag and an unfavorable timezone change, that feels like a scary proposition.

Maybe one day the Philadelphia 76ers will be fully healthy. Maybe one day we’ll get to see how this roster sans Ben Simmons looks against other full strength teams. But that day is not today, and considering how the NBA’s current COVID outbreak has been spidering out like a cracked windshield, things will likely get worse before they get better. *sigh* maybe the front office can at least use the G-League showcase to identify and land a promising short-term solution, maybe someone like our old pal Ryan Arcidiacono, who currently leads the league in assists per game.

UPDATE: The Sixers-Pelicans game has been postponed.