September 30, 2024
Bill Streicher/Imagn Images
Joel Embiid enters the 2024-25 season having inked a new, lucrative three-year contract that ties him to the Sixers for up to five more years.
The NBA doesn't operate the way it used to.
Gone are the days of superstars spending their entire careers with one organization. Not only have the increased significance of free agency and shortened contract lengths generated more player movement, but for better or worse, star-caliber players are much more often encouraged to request -- demand, even -- trades to new teams.
But not Joel Embiid.
Embiid, who was drafted by the Sixers more than a decade ago, has seen unspeakable amounts of disaster. He has often been scapegoated for organizational futility. Embiid has watched his best teammate force a trade out of Philadelphia -- often in humiliating fashion -- three separate times. During Embiid's first five years on the floor, he had to drastically alter his style of play to accommodate a vastly inferior player -- then faced scrutiny for not tapping into his strongest skills enough.
The executive who drafted him was dismissed when the league office had enough of him. The man inserted into the position had to resign in disgrace after anonymous social media accounts linked to him publicly trashed Embiid (among many other offenses).
Through it all, Embiid has remained committed to winning in Philadelphia. Some will call it inspirational and ambitious. Others will call it foolish. And maybe Embiid has become Charlie Brown trying to kick a football. But over the years, he has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is loyal to the only NBA franchise he has ever known.
That loyalty manifested itself earlier this month, when Embiid agreed to a three-year contract extension with the Sixers despite still having a pair of seasons left on his current deal. Embiid, 30, wants to be an anomaly: a franchise-altering player who chooses to spend an entire career -- a prosperous one at that -- with the same team.
"I see this as a long-term thing," Embiid said Monday at the team's Media Day, his first chance to discuss the extension since it had been signed. Asked about what types of players he feels fit best on a team built around a player of his ilk, Embiid declined to share any specific archetypes of players. Instead, he opined about the need for continuity.
It has been spoken and written everywhere -- including here -- that there is nothing Embiid can do to alter his perception as someone who shrinks under pressure other than to be the dominant engine which drives the Sixers to achieve the significant team success they have not enjoyed in nearly 25 years. Embiid knows that and says he is prepared for it. His complete disregard for individual accolades on Monday was jarring.
"There's no agenda," Embiid said. "There's no All-Star, no All-NBA. There's none of that."
Taking it a step further, Embiid said that as soon as the Sixers were eliminated from last year's playoffs in a first-round series in which Embiid was hobbled, he told Sixers President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey that the only viable plan for 2024-25 was one that enabled him to enter the playoffs in perfect condition.
Embiid very well may have more help this time around than he ever has. The new-look Sixers' revamped roster is not perfect, but it has a lot to like. Most importantly: a pair of stars -- one a dynamic, ascending guard and the other an established, seasoned wing -- who can help Embiid carry the load over the course of an 82-game regular season and playoff run that the Sixers hope will last two months.
In Tyrese Maxey and Paul George, the Sixers have two electric scoring threats who are ideal pieces to surround a big of Embiid's ilk. No NBA team has a trio of players with as much talent as Embiid, Maxey and George. Embiid said he wants to defer to his two star teammates as much as he can, even if it means -- especially if it means -- reducing his own scoring workload.
"What I really want to focus on is empowering these guys," Embiid said. "Most of the time, I really want to focus on letting the game come to me."
Regardless of how much star power the Sixers supposedly have on paper, they are going to have to prove on the floor that they are good enough to win a championship. The Boston Celtics steamrolled the entire NBA en route to a title last year and brought back every member of their rotation. The New York Knicks continue to make major swing after major swing in hopes of separating themselves from the pack of challengers to Boston and then overcoming the Celtics. There are several additional serious foes the Sixers must fend off in the Eastern Conference alone.
The Sixers have collected plenty of talented players before. Teams led by Embiid that featured Ben Simmons, Jimmy Butler and James Harden have all failed to win a second-round playoff series even once. Why would Embiid believe that the 2024-25 season will be any different?
"I really have a lot of confidence in these guys to figure it out," Embiid said. "And for me to just use myself as a decoy to allow them to just be themselves and be good at what they do best."
Nobody can definitively state that this time around, the Sixers will get the job done. It would also be silly to rule them out before the season even starts. But Joel Embiid believes it. Joel Embiid believes that one day he will hoist a Larry O'Brien trophy in front of the city of Philadelphia. That is why he signed up for three more years of daily ridicules, pestering over injury statuses and halftime boos.
Maybe Embiid is naive. Maybe he is a visionary. One day, we'll all know.
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