On March 16, Joel Embiid turned 30 years old, and on September 20 he signed a 3-year, $193 million contract extension, all but signifying that the remaining years of his effective prime will be spent in a Sixers uniform.
He received everything he could have asked for from the franchise this offseason. Tyrese Maxey signed a 5-year contract extension and Paul George signed a 4-year maximum contract to join the team. The rest of the roster makes sense for the first time in his career. The time for Joel Embiid is right now.
Embiid has reportedly lost 25-30 pounds this offseason, is boasting a shiny Gold Medal from the Olympics, and can be at peace knowing the main core of the roster around him is set in stone. There is infinite room to grow without having to worry about everything ripping apart at the seams at any given moment.
Embiid is in some of the best physical shape he has ever been in; the mental, too. The volatile personalities of the past have been eradicated. The continuity with Tyrese Maxey and the coaching staff is there. Here are some expectations for Joel Embiid heading into the 2024-25 season.
Take a step back… in the regular season
Joel Embiid does not need to prove his dominance and toughness to the league any further, and he knows it. He has one more mark left to make on the league, and it is not in the regular season. He just has to traverse the troubled waters of the regular season to get there. With Tyrese Maxey and Paul George by his side, the Sixers are going to win a lot of games with their talent alone. What’s important as they win those games is that Embiid is relying more and more on his counterparts to get the job done.
In years past it felt like a referendum on Embiid that he would miss big games in spots that did not make sense or rush himself back to the court with nagging ailments just to prove a point. That stuff does not matter anymore. If he misses the game in Denver for the fifth straight year, so be it. The only games that potentially matter against the Nuggets would be in June. And that is the mindset the Sixers should adopt throughout the entirety of the regular season. When everything is on the line in a best-of-7 series, those are the games he needs to be there for.
Of course the team needs to jell on the court. One surefire way to not jell on the court is for someone to be injured or overtaxed. Embiid should play 55 games by design and no back-to-backs. Paul George should be around 60 games as well. There is more opportunity than in-game action for everyone to get used to one another. Embiid claims he is solely focused on the postseason, showing us that starts in the regular season.
Continue improving as a passer
From the moment Nick Nurse stepped into the building he has wanted to showcase Joel Embiid as offensive hub of the Sixers, not just the main cog in the machine. Nurse’s scheme accentuated Embiid’s passing ability from the nail- an ability unbeknownst to many. More than ever before he was making the right reads to find cutters to the basket and open shooters in the corners.
Embiid averaged 5.6 assists per game last year while throwing passes to Tobias Harris and DeAnthony Melton, two players who were objectively horrible at finishing at the rim no matter the defense. Replace them with Paul George, Caleb Martin, and Ricky Council and those assist numbers will increase by default.
The shooting around Embiid is going to be more reliable as well. Tyrese Maxey and Paul George are both elite shooters off the catch. Eric Gordon has been an above-average three-point shooter throughout the course of his career. Kyle Lowry and Reggie Jackson can provide spot-up shooting off the bench. Caleb Martin has never been afraid to fire. Kelly Oubre’s shots will be more open this year. In year two in this offense, Embiid should be very comfortable managing the game on a possession-by-possession basis.
WIN!!!
Joel Embiid no longer has his sights set on regular season awards? He is no longer going to participate in back-to-backs? Everything he and the team does is with the postseason in mind? Prove it. There are no more excuses.
If the Sixers can get to the playoffs healthy, their three best players are better than any other teams’. They have to close out games and series against quality competition, and Embiid will be looked to in those moments to seal the deal. No more laboring from being out of shape, no more foul-baiting instead of trying to put the ball in the bucket, no more low-IQ hero-ball.
The Sixers do not have to win a championship for Embiid to finally get the proverbial monkey off of his back. Did you know he is the only league MVP to have never played in a Conference Final and one of three to have never played in an NBA Final? Getting to the Conference Final is a start, a good fight is decent headway. As long as Embiid and the Sixers organization are diligent in how they manage the season (tough ask of them), they have the chance to create their own destiny and rewrite their history come playoff time.
Mandatory Credit: Zach Ciavolella
