Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers have already planned for some scheduled absences for the 2023 NBA MVP this season. Embiid, who has battled injuries since being selected third overall in the 2014 NBA Draft, made a surprising proclamation about his future playing situation when it comes to back-to-back games.
“If I had to guess, I would probably never play back-to-back games for the rest of my career,” Embiid advised ESPN.
The reasoning behind this is simple: the Sixers and Embiid want him to be healthy for the postseason, and if that means sitting out the entire regular season to ensure he can play big minutes in the playoffs, so be it next time. he. That’s even more true because this is the best Sixers roster assembled since Embiid is the franchise’s megastar.
Adding Paul George this summer gives the Sixers another megastar player to ride around on offense, especially when Embiid isn’t on the court or misses a tournament. Reuniting with Andre Drummond to be Embiid’s added assurance that there will no longer be a major release on the defensive side of the ball when the Sixers megastar is on the bench, or even including someone like Caleb Martin and bringing in Eric Gordon provides intensity to the Sixers. to allow Embiid not to have to play games with so many minutes until the postseason.
Because the Sixers were a great team over the years, they haven’t been able to determine things when Embiid misses a month or is benched. In the season’s high, the Sixers were 5.9 percentage points higher on 100 possessions when Embiid was playing than when he was sitting. That trend is also relevant if we go back to the 2020-21 season. You can only look at the wins and losses to see how much influence Embiid has. Before leaving with a knee injury that forced him to miss more than 28 games late in the season, the Sixers were in fifth place in the East. With Embiid out, the Sixers ended up having to travel during the play-in to win the mistake. Seventh place in the East playoffs.
The hope is that with the additions of George, Martin, Drummond, Gordon and the continued rise of Tyrese Maxey, the Sixers can not only stay afloat without Embiid, but can still be dominant.
But where this will get interesting for Embiid is when you start doing the math to see how this can eventually work out. Philadelphia has 15 consecutive games this season, so if Embiid really intends to participate in at least one tournament in each of those consecutive games, he is already guaranteed to go more than 15 games. That puts him playing a maximum of 67 games. That doesn’t come with any unique game imaginable. Embiid could also be sidelined as inevitable illnesses emerge that dangerously choke him, similar to lacking the 65-game threshold the league now requires to be eligible for many late-season games. seasonal awards. In other words, will we see a second consecutive season in which Embiid no longer makes the All-NBA team, in addition to being ineligible for awards such as MVP, All-Defensive Player of the Year and All-Defensive Team?
That may not be something that matters to Embiid, although, as he told ESPN, “I’ve accomplished it all.” [individually]But one thing is missing, which is winning a championship.” With that in mind, it seems that Embiid is fascinated with something this season bigger than ever, which is winning a championship. And he no longer enjoys the return to -backs is a important step to ensure he is healthy for what the Sixers hope will be an extended postseason.
