September 20, 2024
Bill Streicher/USA TODAY Sports
Joel Embiid has reportedly agreed on a contract extension with the Sixers that inches him closer to spending his entire career in Philadelphia.
The Sixers have accomplished many of their lofty goals for this offseason, but perhaps none bigger than this: according to several reports, the team has agreed to a three-year contract extension with Joel Embiid projected to be worth approximately $193 million. The deal contains a player option for the final season.
JUST IN: Joel Embiid says he is signing a contract extension with the Philadelphia 76ers. The one-time NBA MVP will sign a three-year, $193 million maximum extension with the 76ers, with a player option in 2028-2029, sources tell @TheAthletic. pic.twitter.com/BzA0mUO8yc
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 20, 2024
Embiid, 30, is now under contract for at least four more seasons — guaranteed on the Sixers' books through the 2027-28 season, a campaign he will end as a 34-year-old — with a player option worth a hair over $69 million in the 2028-29 season.
After becoming eligible to sign this extension beginning around the middle of July, Embiid was able to ink this deal at any point until the start of the upcoming regular season — if he had not signed it by then, he would be ineligible to extend his deal under next summer.
This piece of news simply represents — once again — the magnitude of Embiid's growth and success as a full-blown superstar. He was the first center in over two decades to win a scoring championship back in 2021-22; if not for his meniscus injury last season he would be entering 2024-25 as the three-time reigning scoring champion. There is absolutely no denying Embiid's otherworldly skill, phenomenal physical gifts and ability to make tremendous improvements to his game. He is a transformative offensive talent, one of the single most formidable scoring centers in NBA history who has made massive strides as a playmaker in recent years. He can alter any game with his defense as one of the most feared rim protectors in the sport. His knack for drawing fouls -- possibly better than that of any other player of his era -- is only surpassed by his ability to knock down free throws at a clip that is almost unfathomable for someone of his size.
A former NBA MVP with two recent runner-up finishes to boot, Embiid has been the best or second-best regular season basketball player on the planet for nearly a half-decade now.
The sentence above is both a blessing and a curse when it comes to how Embiid is viewed. On its surface, it represents enormous praise. But the inclusion of the words "regular season" adds a caveat to Embiid's reputation worth far more than 13 letters, a caveat Embiid is desperate to shed.
It is impossible to argue that Embiid has ever put all of his abilities together for long enough on the game's greatest stage. After eight seasons of action — the last seven have all included playoff appearances — Embiid has never appeared in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Surely some of that is on Embiid, though the extent of his playoff struggles have been greatly exaggerated by many. Plenty of instances in which the Sixers have come up short during his career could easily be attributed to brutal injury luck for Embiid or subpar supporting casts around him.
Believe it or not, last year's first-round elimination at the hands of the New York Knicks may have represented progress for Embiid. Despite dealing with a major knee injury and a significant case of Bell's palsy that dramatically limited his ability, Embiid averaged 33.0 points, 10.8 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 1.5 blocks and 1.2 steals per game with a 59.2 true shooting percentage.
The makings of the centerpiece of a Sixers team that wins it all exist in Embiid. For a variety of reasons, it has not all come together yet. But the Sixers continue to believe it will, and they put their money where their mouths have been with this supermax deal.
Drafted No. 3 overall by the Sixers more than 10 years ago after a major injury took him out of the running to be selected at the very top in 2014, Embiid did not suit up for a single game for two years before playing just 31 games as a third-year rookie. However, the moment the Cameroonian big man stepped on a floor for the first time, it became clear that things were headed in this direction -- but maybe not quite this far.
Embiid is not just a star, nor is he a superstar; he is a transcendent basketball talent and mind who will one day be enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame as one of the most dominant players of his era.
Perhaps most importantly: with today's news, it is increasingly likely that Embiid will be remembered not just as a Sixer, but as a Sixers lifer. The list of generational talents who spend their entire careers with one team grows shorter and shorter by the day; in today's day and age it is nearly impossible to keep a player that good content in one spot.
It is a massive testament to Embiid's determination to win in Philadelphia and to win as a Sixer — his desire to finish what he started -- that no number of embarrassing scandals, public trade demands by co-stars or instances of vocal frustration from the city he has tried to make proud have ever deterred him from his long-standing objective.
Joel Embiid on fighting through a bad knee and now Bell’s palsy:
— SPORTSRADIO 94WIP (@SportsRadioWIP) April 26, 2024
“One thing I’m not gonna do is give up…Gotta keep pushing, gotta keep fighting. Gotta keep putting my body on the line for my family, for this city, for this team.” ❤️
pic.twitter.com/EemhL6QKwo
Can Joel Embiid be the best player on a championship-winning team in the NBA? Almost certainly in an ideal environment. Has he ever been able to exist in an ideal environment? Like for most players, the answer is no. Some will say definitively that Embiid's time will soon come; many will inevitably state with utmost confidence that he is too fragile — physically and mentally — to ever achieve the sort of team success that he craves.
But the truth is that there is not a single person in the world who knows with absolutely certainty whether Embiid has it in him. The onus is on Embiid himself to prove his supporters right and his critics wrong — but he is running out of opportunities to make that happen.
The stakes for Embiid over the next few years — or however much longer his prime lasts — are obvious: if he never gets over his playoff demons, never conquers his enemies and never leads a parade down Broad Street, he will likely leave a legacy filled with the word "not": one of the best players to not win a championship, one of the most jaw-dropping talents to not have a defining moment that lives in basketball lore.
With this contract extension, though, Embiid is going all-in on crafting his own legacy: a player who recovered from countless injuries, setbacks and devastating defeats, not to mention an unthinkable personal tragedy, and just kept pushing; a player who, in the face of the entire basketball world reducing him and his team to a punch line after repeated failures, stayed the course and worked tirelessly until he brought one of the sport's most storied franchises its first championship in more than 40 years — all to make good on his promise to turn a city known for misery and ruthlessness into a city that is just... proud.
That would be one hell of a legacy to leave. Now, all Embiid has to do is go earn it.
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