What Are the Philadelphia 76ers to Do With Andrew Bynum?

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, Bynum will undergo season-ending surgery on both knees to clean out any remaining debris:

Andrew Bynum will undergo season-ending surgery on both knees, source tells Y! Sports.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) March 18, 2013

Bynum’s surgery will be to clean out remaining debris in both knees and take place Tuesday,

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) March 18, 2013

This is both tragic and hardly unexpected.

On the one hand, you feel for the Sixers. They gave up an All-Star in Andre Iguodala and a rebounding machine in Nikola Vucevic (and Moe Harkless) to land Bynum. At the time, it seemed like a no brainer. Philly had been attempting to move Iguodala for years and Bynum was fresh off a first All-Star appearance himself. Those 18.7 points, 11.8 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game were going to turn the Sixers into contenders.

Now, we’re here.

Bynum hasn’t played a second for Philadelphia, is officially done for the year and is set to hit unrestricted free agency upon season’s end, leaving the Sixers with a borderline impossible decision to make: Do they invest close to nine-figures over the next five years in a 25-year-old center with frail knees, or do they let him walk, take the cap space and except that this accord was a bust?

Further complicating matters is the Sixers’ potential to land another star instead of Bynum. With his contract coming off the books, Philly will have between $12 and $14 million annually to play around with. That won’t necessarily give the Sixers enough to offer a max contract, and it all but takes them out of play for Dwight Howard (a long shot, but still).

Knowing that they would then need to move someone to have the cash necessary to issue a max deal to an Al Jefferson (Josh Smith?) or someone else, only heightens the ambiguity behind their impending decision.

Moving on from Bynum could be construed as full-fledged rebuild. If they fail to bring in another star-caliber player, they’ll be left to move forward with what they have. And what are they to do then?

It’s not as if the Sixers can look at signing Bynum for a discounted rate either. The market for his services will undoubtedly be tapered by the state of his knees, but in a center-starved league, someone is going to give him a max deal.

Will it be the Sixers? We’re not sure. Should it be the Sixers? Absolutely not.

While it’s a tough call, it’s time for Philly to move on. The team has an All-Star in Jrue Holiday and promising talent/trade asset in Evan Turner. Even Thaddeus Young offers us cause for excitement.

As is, they’re not a playoff team..because of Bynum. They’re not a postseason faction because Bynum rode the pine for the entire season. They need to take the cap space and run. Save it if need be. The summer of 2014 offers so many options.

Re-signing Bynum, though, doesn’t. Either he lives up to his potential or his knees continue to crumble under the weight of lost expectations.

Which will it be?

Again, we’re not sure. But the Sixers shouldn’t invest any more time, assets or money in finding out.