Getty Joel Embiid (right) of the Sixers is waiting for a possible James Harden trade.
If he were so inclined, Sixers star Joel Embiid would have the right to be a bit ticked off. He will soon enter his 10th season with the Sixers and nothing seems as settled now as it did back in 2015, when he was drafted with the No. 3 pick but had to sit out two seasons because of foot surgery.
In his time in Philadelphia, Embiid — the 2022-23 NBA MVP — has sunk all he’s got into the franchise, and it has not given him much back in return. Nick Nurse will be his third coach, and his current GM, Daryl Morey, is the fourth.
The bigger problem is Embiid’s co-star. It was James Harden for the past two seasons, but now Harden, for the third time in four years, has pouted out a trade request and no longer wants to be a Sixer. While it is not inconceivable that Harden returns to the team, it’s not very likely — Morey has been working on trade packages in earnest.
While there is speculation about what the departure of Harden, on the heels of the firing of coach Doc Rivers, means for Embiid’s future in Philly, executives around the NBA don’t think it will lead to an Embiid exodus.
“No, just no way,” one GM said flatly when asked about Embiid asking out. “He is a different kind of character. He is a lot more like (Damian) Lillard and (Bradley) Beal because he wants to be loyal to the team, he wants to stay there, he has a lot of appreciation for how he has been treated there. Now, his contract is up in (2026) so that’s three years. It’s tough, the position he is in. If we’re still talking about this in three years, you’d expect the story to change by then.”
Joel Embiid Has Had Playoff Struggles
Costars are the big issue. In his time in Philadelphia, Embiid has seen Harden (likely), Ben Simmons and Jimmy Butler come and go, and he’s seen the likes of Michael Carter-Williams, Nerlens Noel and Jahlil Okafor held up as future stars. He’s got the same thing, over and over, for his troubles: six trips to the playoffs, one first-round exit and five second-round exits.
But Embiid also knows he shoulders some of the blame for the Sixers’ playoff flops. That’s been especially true in the last two seasons, with Embiid leading the NBA in scoring both years. He averaged a combined 31.8 points, 10.9 rebounds and 4.2 assists the past two years, with 52.9% shooting and 35.3% 3-point shooting.
In the last two postseasons, though: 23.6 points, 10.3 rebounds and 2.4 assists, shooting 45.9% from the field and 19.7% from the 3-point line. As much as the team’s failures can be blamed on coaching or secondary stars, fact is, Embiid has not come through.
‘An Army of Picks’ in an Embiid Trade
Still, if Embiid were to be put on the market, he could draw an enormous haul. One executive pointed out that if Rudy Gobert could attract five first-round picks plus Walker Kessler and the pieces used to bring in another pick from the Lakers, “You’d need to an army of draft picks to get Joel Embiid.”
But Embiid is not expected to be on the market, not any time soon. He is not expected to ask for it, and the Sixers likely would not do it even if he did.
That is not to say he is happy with the situation in Philadelphia, that he likes a revolving-door situation when it comes to the team’s second and third options. But he does not blame Morey or Sixers upper management for that — if anything, Embiid is still ticked at the NBA for forcing out Sam Hinkie at the height of The Process back in 2016.
The Sixers are, for the fifth straight season, undergoing a wild swing in personnel. Don’t expect much grumbling from Embiid, though.