Getty James Harden and Joel Embiid are a strong pair.
The Philadelphia 76ers acquired superstar guard James Harden from the Brooklyn Nets before the trade deadline, and the early returns of pairing him with MVP candidate Joel Embiid have been very promising.
While they were blown out by the Nets on March 10 thanks to a poor showing from Harden and Embiid, the results of the pair do offer some encouraging signs. However, it does seem very premature to call the pair the next Shaq and Kobe.
Of course, not many people have been saying that, but when they do it certainly gets a lot of push back almost immediately.
Somebody who is not a fan of the comparisons at all is Shaquille O’Neal himself. His comments came on The Big Podcast with Shaq, and they also came before the Sixers were ran out of town by the Nets.
“Not Even Close”
Talent-wise, the comparison can be argued, but the results part of it just isn’t there yet. With the Lakers, Shaq and Kobe won three championships, something the Sixers are just trying to do for the first time right now.
At this stage, it’s hard to imagine the duo ripped off three in a row, let alone three total considering Harden is already 32. Shaq warns not to make any quick comparisons because it hasn’t been long enough to see how the pair will really co-exist.
“Right now, they’re still in the honeymoon phase,” he said. “Reality has to kick in. Who’s going to take the last shot? James has to take care of the big man. Big man gonna take care of him and everybody else.”
When asked if the NBA legend would be willing to crowd Embiid and Harden as the next Kobe and Shaq, the answer was as you’d expect.
“No,” he said. “Me and Kobe had eight years of damage together. No, not even close. Stop it. N-O. H-no and F-no.”
The Ceiling is High
GettyJames Harden and Joel Embiid are a fearsome duo.
Despite the beatdown by the Nets, the Sixers still look to have a very bright future and they should finish with a very high seed in the playoffs.
This would mean they have home-court advantage throughout the playoffs, or at least most of it. With how wild the Philly fans can get, that’s a good thing to be working in their favor, although it didn’t make much of a different in the matchup with the Nets.
At the end of the day, it was just a regular season game, albeit a much bigger one that you’d might expect, but there’s no reason to not expect the Sixers duo to perform well in the playoffs.
Tyrese Maxey and Tobias Harris will also be very important in the playoffs as they’ll need to step up when either of the stars have an off-night.
There’s still about a month left before the playoffs begin, so Embiid and Harden still have plenty of time to get reps in with each other before the championship run begins. By the time it’s all said and done, maybe they’ll be the closest thing to the next Shaq and Kobe.
READ NEXT: Sixers Veteran Accuses Ben Simmons of Changing Phone Number