A rival scout, speaking anonymously to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon, warned that Joel Embiid’s current role will not sit well for long.

“I think it’s going to be a problem, and that could railroad them. I just don’t buy it right now. He’s going to want the ball more. He’s going to get pissed. He’s going to stop playing defense. He’s going to stop running,” the scout told MacMahon.

The warning lands in a radically redrawn Philadelphia roster. Embiid, long the gravitational centre of the franchise, now sits behind Tyrese Maxey, Jaylen Brown and LeBron James in a touch hierarchy that was underlined on ESPN’s broadcast before Thursday’s home opener.

Barkley says Embiid now the fourth option

Charles Barkley made the role shift the sharpest talking point of the pre-game show. Shaquille O’Neal had predicted a 25-point, 10-rebound night for Embiid; Barkley cut him off with the math of the new lineup.

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“He got zero chance to get 25 because he’s the fourth option on the team,” Barkley said on the ESPN broadcast, as reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Barkley’s prescription was to lean into defence rather than scoring. Embiid, he argued to the Inquirer, was the only true size on the roster and would have to accept being the team’s rim protector, lead rebounder and primary defender.

Philadelphia erase 24-point halftime deficit

Trailing Cleveland 69-45 at halftime, the 76ers erased a 29-point deficit and beat the Cavaliers 114-106, the largest comeback win in franchise history and the biggest of LeBron James’s career.

Maxey scored a game-high 32 points. James added 17 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and three steals in his home debut, while Brown had 21 points and eight rebounds. Embiid finished with 24 and hit the basket that gave Philadelphia its first lead of the night, 96-95, with 6:54 to play.

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Coach Nick Nurse described the swing in blunt terms.

“A wild way to win a game, to get just absolutely two halves that don’t resemble each other at all,” Nurse said.

Donovan Mitchell led Cleveland with 32 points in defeat, according to CBS Philadelphia’s recap of the home opener.

No back-up centre after Hukporti injury

The scouts’ concern is sharpened by what sits behind Embiid. Yardbarker reported that centre Ariel Hukporti tore his Achilles in pre-season, forcing Nurse to experiment with James at centre for stretches when Embiid picked up early fouls.

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Philadelphia is 2-0 after opening the season with a 106-100 win over the Knicks in which Maxey led the team with 28 points, Yardbarker noted.

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