Joel Embiid Says His Knee Issues Are “Behind Him.” The Sixers Need to See It Before They Believe It
Joel Embiid says his knee is fine now. The Sixers heard him. The Sixers are also not going to believe him until they see him play 70 games next season.
Embiid played 38 games this past season. He missed four playoff games. His Sixers were eliminated in the second round by the Knicks. The narrative around the franchise has reset to the same place it has been for the past three years: can Joel Embiid actually stay healthy enough to win a championship?
This summer, Embiid told reporters his knee issues are “behind him.” He believes he and the medical staff have figured out how to manage his body. He expects to play significantly more games next year. The Sixers’ front office desperately wants to believe him. They also have to plan for both outcomes.
The contract makes everything harder. Embiid is owed roughly $188 million over the next three years, including a $67.3 million player option in 2028-29. There is no realistic trade market for that contract until the team can show that he can be on the court for 70 games. So the Sixers are stuck with him whether or not the knee actually cooperates.
The encouraging part of the Sixers’ season was the development of Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe. Maxey averaged 26.7 points per game and made the All-Star team. Edgecombe is a 21-year-old wing who shot 39% from three and looks like a long-term piece. The Sixers also have Paul George under contract, although his deal looks worse every time he misses a game.
The roster construction is the real question for Daryl Morey this summer. Do you keep building around Embiid and hope the knee holds? Do you let Maxey lead a younger version of the team and hope Embiid gives you 50 games of playoff-level basketball? Morey has spent his entire career making bets on healthy stars. This is the bet he probably did not want to make.
The Sixers came back from down 3-1 against the Celtics in the first round this year. That was the most memorable Embiid moment of the season. He looked transcendent for three games. Then the Knicks bullied them in the second round, and Embiid looked like a guy whose knee was killing him by Game 4.
This summer, the Sixers will look at incremental upgrades, hope Embiid actually does come back at 100%, and try not to think about the fact that the 2027 offseason might be when the whole thing has to be blown up. Embiid is going to be 33 next season. The window is closing fast.
What this means for the East is the Sixers are going to be on the Knicks’ tier if Embiid is healthy. If he is not, they are a play-in team in a conference that just got drastically better at the top. The Magic, Pistons, and Hawks all look ready to take a step. The Sixers need their MVP to be the MVP again, and the clock is real.
Joel Embiid says the knee is fine. The Sixers need 70 games of evidence before anyone else does. That is the only thing that matters in Philadelphia this summer.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
