The 76ers Confirm With New Plan That Joel Embiid Is Just A Part-Time NBA Player From Now On
Mark Blinch. Getty Images.Joel Embiid already came out and told everyone that he'd never play another back-to-back in his career. The Sixers already announced that he was going to miss the first week or two of the season. Before even stepping onto the court at all this season, Joel Embiid was already down to playing in just 60 or so games. That's before you take any tweaks that pop up throughout the season that'll hold him out for 2-3 games. That's before you take any extra knee procedures that cause him to miss a couple of weeks. That's before anything. So you figure there's a strong chance that Joel Embiid only plays 40-45 games this season.
We already knew this. None of this is new information. We all sort of knew it would be by design, but I don't think the 76ers can flat out say that they're allowing Embiid to just play 50% of the games this season to keep him healthy for the playoffs. But now thanks to this Shams report, we know this is most likely going to be the plan for the rest of his career.
Yeah I mean…sure. There's an argument to be made here that this makes sense. Embiid is literally always broken by the time the playoffs roll around, and the Sixers might as well try anything at this point to keep him healthy while they still can. He might have 2-3 years left of playing at this level, and you need all the juice you can squeeze out of those years.
But at the same time, it's so par for the course for this loser franchise. A franchise that spent YEARS purposely being terrible is obviously going to be fine with the face of their franchise only playing in 50% of the games. Losing has been bred into this organization, so now mediocrity is totally acceptable.
Is Joel Embiid going to be healthier when the playoffs come around this year? You never know, but there's certainly a better chance of it. But at the same time, what are the playoffs even going to look like for the Sixers? This team is 1-3 right now with their only win coming in overtime against a terrible Pacers team. This stat doesn't prove that Joel Embiid is the best player in the league, it just proves that the Sixers are an awful team without him.
They're never going to have an easy path in the playoffs as a top seed if Embiid is missing 40 games every year. And it's not like Joel Embiid is necessarily the easiest guy to play with. Guys need time to develop chemistry over months and months of repetition in high-pressure scenarios. Joel Embiid and Paul George might play 25 games together by the time the playoffs are here. They're not going to be some dynamic duo that will finally be able to turn the corner. So will he be healthy? Maybe. But will it matter? Not at all.
But the Sixers don't care. They're getting their new stadium, they're going to keep making more money, and they're going to keep this idea afloat that they actually care about winning a championship all while Josh Harris is doing everything in his power to help the Washington Commanders take over the NFC East. That little dipshit weasel, man. I still can't believe there are so many Sixers fans out there who continue to give into this guy who should literally be our biggest enemy right now. Drives me nuts. Am I the only one who is awake? Sometimes it feels like it.