It's the same old story for Joel Embiid and Sixers during their NBA investigation

I wanted to write a column about all the interesting moments from the Sixers' season opener on Wednesday night. But let's be honest. Nobody wants to read 800 words on “Bricken for Chicken.” Instead, I'll highlight a point that probably doesn't need further criticism.

Nights like Wednesday night? They're not good for anyone. Not the NBA. Not ESPN. Not Paul George. Not the Sixers. Certainly not their fans, about 20,000 of whom paid big money to see what turned out to be a glorified exhibition game. The end result is important only because it provides a neat summary of that hideous night. Even then, Milwaukee Bucks 124, Sixers 109 is probably an understatement.

You just have to hope things work out for Joel Embiid.

” READ MORE: Sixers are no match for the Milwaukee Bucks in the season opener without Joel Embiid and Paul George

Otherwise, you know the drill.

Know Joel, know hope.

No Joel, no hope.

Just like it always was.

In the grand scheme of things, it probably won't matter much that the Sixers started the 2024-25 season with a loss. Nor does it matter that the loss came to the Bucks, a team that deserves greater mention in an Eastern Conference conversation that has focused largely on the Celtics, Knicks and Sixers throughout the offseason. It may not even matter if 0-1 becomes 0-2 and 0-2 becomes 0-3, all of which clearly remain possible until we have further clarity on Embiid and George's return dates. (Embiid is already expected to miss Games 2 and 3. George continues to suffer from a hyperextended knee and a bone bruise.)

What matters is the tone the Sixers have set for themselves. Everything should feel new, fresh, exciting and full of potential. You looked at the field and saw different faces, different names, different numbers. Even in defeat, one couldn't help but acknowledge the legitimacy of the roster the Sixers had assembled. Caleb Martin, Guerschon Yabusele, Kyle Lowry, Kelly Oubre Jr. – these are good players who can fill solid roles on a playoff squad.

There were definitely flaws. A lack of quickness outside of Tyrese Maxey, a lack of knockdown shooters. The Sixers made just eight of their 31 three-point attempts against the Bucks and had major problems at the rim. But there were a lot of positives to add to the Sixers' rotation. But therein lies the problem. They didn't have the rotation they should have. Despite all the changes, everything felt disturbingly the same.

Maxey bristled at the idea. That's what you would expect from him. The world looks very different in a changing room than it does from the outside.

“We played a game,” said Maxey, who tried to win the game on his own but shot just 10 of 31 from the field and 2 of 9 from three-point range while scoring 25 points. “I’m not going to sit here and say because (Embiid) was out we played poorly.

“Yes, we didn’t win the game, which is the goal, but we spent most of the preseason and training camp without (Embiid). He has improved. … Our victory cannot be due to Joel Embiid alone. It just doesn't work. There isn't a championship team out there that we can't win if Joel Embiid doesn't play. …We will be better. I’ll feel better.”

” READ MORE: Funky Sixers cut to the chase and emphasized that Joel Embiid's absence from the season opener is all on track

It is equally true that there is no championship team that can consistently win games when its two best players are sitting on the sidelines in street clothes. That's what Sixers fans see. That's what they feel when they hear that Embiid is back in one of his indefinite start-up phases, even though he hasn't played an NBA game in more than five months. That's the energy the Sixers have brought this season. After three quarters of it, it already felt like a six-week-old Coke without a top in the fridge.

The NBA is definitely feeling it. There's a reason the league announced it was launching an official investigation into the Sixers' handling of Embiid's absence. The league has spent a lot of energy trying to breathe life into a regular season that is quickly slipping into insignificance. Commissioner Adam Silver certainly understands that the problem cannot be solved. But the optics require that he at least try to deal with it. The least he can expect is for everyone to dress up on one of the league's biggest nationally televised nights.

No one should imagine that Silver will put on his consumer protection cape and fight to avenge all the hard-earned dollars that Sixers ticket holders wasted on Wednesday. Something much more lucrative is at stake. ESPN pays the NBA and its owners, and therefore its players, hundreds of millions of dollars to broadcast what should have been Bucks-Sixers marquee games. When one of the main attractions doesn't play for reasons that are unclear, the money feels stolen rather than lost.

Those who tuned in certainly didn't stick around until the end. The Bucks and Sixers battled through a largely even first quarter before Milwaukee opened a 13-point lead late in the second quarter. The lead was no longer in danger for the rest of the game.

The mission was there from Maxey. There were 5 minutes and 33 seconds left and the Sixers trailed by 15 points. Still racing through traffic, he contorted his body between two big men, threw a max-radius reverse off the backboard and watched from the hardwood as it rattled through the net. About a minute later, with the Sixers trailing by 16 points, he fell hard onto the field, was called for a trip, and then spent much of the next 30 seconds ostentatiously making his case to the referee in question.

No, exertion will never be an issue with Maxey. Maybe that's why he stayed out after the aforementioned sequence, after the game was conceded and the substitutes started checking in. Perhaps by the end a message came from the front of the bench, where two superstars sat wearing contrasting tracksuits. Do you see that guy out there? He needs you.

If that were a thought of Nick Nurse's, he would never admit it. Maxey checked out shortly after and the Sixers officially began counting down the seconds.

” READ MORE: Sixers takeaways: Tyrese Maxey's shooting woes, Caleb Martin's presence and more

I want to try to be fair to Embiid and the Sixers here. There is an alternative telling of this story in which both player and team deserve credit for even being expected to play in an NBA game. When Embiid was 21 years old and missing his second straight NBA season, no one would have imagined that he would average more than 50 games over the next eight seasons. No one would have thought that at 30 he would be one of the players whose absence would cause a scandal. Whatever you think about his offseason routine, his inseason conditioning, his rest days, his post-injury workouts, or the decisions he and his team made, the bottom line is a player and a career that few can match thought it was likely.

On a philosophical level, the process has always been sound. Perhaps Embiid's early foot problems were a blessing. From the moment the Sixers selected him, they placed a premium on his long-term health. That priority has recently shifted to the midterm, meaning this year's playoffs.

“I think if you want to point the finger at a specific person, that's not going to happen,” Nurse said. “Our medical care comes first. Joel is there, the front office, me, everyone weighs in. … (He had) very few playoffs where he felt very good at the beginning. We’re just trying to do something different and get him there this time.”

That's not a bad thing. Actually the opposite. If the Sixers believe they can trade regular-season utility for postseason utility, it's a worthwhile deal.

My main point is that no one should demand that the Sixers play Embiid to appease their stakeholders' short-term concerns when their own priorities will best be served by not playing him. I'm not talking about load management here. I'm talking about load preparation, which means getting your body to a point where everything is maximized: cardiovascular conditioning, core strength, etc. Whether he can still make improvements in those areas and whether those improvements can help him Finding his way around the basketball court If he's trying to better protect his knee and better prevent future injuries, pushing those improvements at the expense of a few games early in the season is justified.

The problem is more how the last five months were handled. Embiid decided to compete in the Olympics and shortened his off-season by a few months. Playing for your country is great. Playing for your employer is life.

The Sixers decided how to share information about Embiid's status. If The Plan had the potential to stop him early in the season, they could have made that known. They could have raised expectations.

Funny how something that's a little different can feel very similar.