Joel Embiid has an NBA Most Valuable Player award and five All-NBA selections to his name. What he doesn’t have is a healthy run in the playoffs this decade.
The Philadelphia 76ers is expecting a leaner, meaner Embiid in 2024-25 after the center said at Monday’s preseason media day that he has dropped 25 to 30 pounds this offseason and isn’t satisfied yet.
“This year is all about, there’s no agenda, there’s no All-Star, there’s no All-NBA,” Embiid said. “There’s none of that. There is whatever it takes to make sure that I get to that point where I’m ready to go. Because basically every single year in my career I’ve been hurt in the playoffs. So I think that’s the goal. It’s all about doing whatever it takes to get there.”
Embiid, 30, played in just 39 games in the 2023-24 regular season after tearing the meniscus in his left knee. He was back in time for the playoffs but wasn’t 100 per cent as the 76ers dropped its first-round series against the New York Knicks.
He had an LCL sprain in 2023, a facial fracture and broken thumb in 2022 and a meniscus tear in his right knee in 2021.
Embiid, who was listed at 280 pounds at the end of last season, sees a slimmer build as a path to better luck with his health.
“I’ve still got a ways to go,” Embiid said. “Still want to lose more, but it’s a process. (President of basketball operations Daryl Morey) would tell you this: As soon as we lost last year, I texted him and I was like, ‘We’ve got to do whatever it takes to make sure that, in the postseason, I’m healthy.’”
Morey, for his part, coordinated the Sixers’ signing of star free agent forward Paul George to join Embiid and Tyrese Maxey in the franchise’s push toward a title. Philadelphia hasn’t gotten past the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs since 2001.
“We’re going to be really smart about this,” Morey said of managing Embiid’s health. “We’re focused on April, May, June. It doesn’t mean that the team right now isn’t important as well, but we’re going to be very smart about how we manage him through the season. There’s going to be a lot of information as we learn about how everything’s working with the entire roster.
“But with Joel specifically ... we actually have quite a few guys who we think we need to (be) smart about how we manage them through the season while still maintaining a high level of play, and keep the eye on the prize as we do that.”
Embiid averaged career highs of 34.7 points and 5.6 assists plus 11.0 rebounds per game in limited action last year. He’s less than two years removed from winning MVP honours after he put up 33.1 points, 10.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.7 blocks per game in 2022-23.
Embiid has averaged 27.9 points, 11.2 rebounds and 3.6 assists in 433 games (all starts) since Philadelphia drafted him third overall in 2014.
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