“I plan to take a break from the Pod, just to focus on getting my body right, getting mentally right, and, you know, help this squad make a push towards our goal”. Paul George set some priorities for himself a few weeks ago as the Philadelphia 76ers’ situation continued to worsen.

With the team sitting at a rough 20-37 record and stuck at the 12th seed in the Eastern Conference, PG knew something had to change. So, he made a call—putting his passion for podcasting on hold to focus entirely on improving his game and giving his team at least a fighting chance.

That kind of commitment is commendable, but here’s the thing—it can’t just be a one-man effort. If the rest of the squad isn’t locking in with the same intensity, they’re only setting themselves up to get clowned—especially by Patrick Beverley’s co-host, who hasn’t held back from calling out players who seem distracted from the bigger picture.

The former Philadelphia 76ers player recently released another episode of his ‘Pat Bev Pod’. During the same time, his co-host, Adam Ferrone, asked Patrick Beverley to describe the social media post he pulled up on his phone. It was 38-year-old American singer Ke$ha’s recent Instagram post, which contained several pictures of her recent vacation. The first picture was of her standing on top of snow, while in a bikini.

For Adam Ferrone, what made the post interesting was that it was ‘Liked by Daryl Morey and others’. The 76ers GM got caught red-handed, and Ferrone made sure to not let his findings be at rest until he engaged in a little trolling.

“Sixers are 20 games under .500. And he’s liking Kesha’s a**? Focus up, Daryl. Focus the hell up. There’s gotta be better a** that he can like out there, first of all. Second of all, do it on a damn burner like every other Philly GM in history. You f***ing pervert. Not while the Sixers are going through this” said Ferrone jokingly.

“Paul George is at least stepping up being like ‘What can I do? I’ll cancel my podcast’ and Daryl Morey said ‘I can’t even help myself from publicly liking Kesha’s a**’”. Yikes!

Even with Paul George’s recent commitment, the Philadelphia 76ers’ situation has not improved much. While they have moved to the 11 seed, they now hold a 22-41 win record. It now seems unlikely that the team makes it to the postseason, as even teams like the Chicago Bulls and the Jimmy Butler-less Miami Heat hold a higher seed. With no hope, all some can do briefly is engage in the blame game.

One can ask, ‘Why is Daryl Morey susceptible to be blamed?’ Two names: Joel Embiid and Paul George. According to the contracts held by them, Embiid and George are owed a combined $404.5 million in salary. The Cameroonian had signed a massive 3-year $193 million extension last September, promising that “You guys deserve a championship and I think we’re just getting started!”. (That aged well). Meanwhile, Paul George joined the Sixers during the offseason and signed a 4-year, $212 million max deal.

At this point, people have realized that the duo hasn’t even come close to proving their worth this season. After all, Embiid missed 44 games this season, and will miss the rest of the season too after sustaining a left knee injury. Meanwhile, George’s absences and his average score of 16.2 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 4.3 assists haven’t made the situation better.

As Brian Windhorst recently highlighted, “Paul George’s contract and Joel Embiid’s contract that’s $500 million between the two of them, those are not tradeable contracts right now.” Daryl Morey is already facing the flak for that. Now, he is not providing any solutions/trade opinions that could potentially save the Philadelphia 76ers. If it’s beyond saving, then the team could at least be strengthened for the next season.

Any moves that Daryl Morey needs to make, he needs to do so quickly. After all, as a renowned ESPN sportscaster highlighted, the new revelations about the GM are not helping to improve his reputation.

Stephen A. Smith highlights a ‘world of trouble’ for Daryl Morey amid rumors of Joel Embiid’s signing

It is no secret that Joel Embiid is someone who can be specified as an ‘injury-prone’ player. This is why even the player once told ESPN’s Tim Bontemps, “If I had to guess, I would probably never play back-to-backs the rest of my career”. In light of his recent injury that sidelined him for the remainder of the season, one would ask why Embiid was even given an extension in the first place. Well, as it turns out, Morey may have played a role in persuading some doubtful minds.

In one of the segments hosted on ESPN a couple of days ago, Stephen A. Smith revealed that “There are rumors that owner Josh Harris was very reluctant to sign Joel Embiid to this extension and Daryl Morey was the one who said ‘we got to do it’. If that’s the truth, Daryl Morey is in a world of trouble”.

Smith further highlighted that Harris also owned the NFL’s Washington Commanders, which has Magic Johnson as one of the minority owners. Therefore, Harris’s reluctance may have stemmed from a conversation he had with Johnson.

In the end, Josh Harris’s reluctance did hold some merit. This information hurts Daryl Morey, and him being called out for liking a female singer’s NSFW post does not help. Therefore, if there ever was a time for the GM to step up and act, it was yesterday.