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Joel Embiid has had an injury plagued 24-25 season and expects to undergo surgery on his knee this offseason. Because the Sixers signed Embiid to a three-year, $193 million extension before the season, he has gone from perennial MVP candidate to being on one of the riskiest contracts in the NBA.

"Yes, absolutely," said Brian Windhorst when asked if the Sixers have a Joel Embiid problem. "Because, I know that people would like this to be a cut and dry issue, you either need surgery or you don't. That's not necessarily clear here. He has seen a number of specialists. There isn't a clear path on how to resolve this issue. He's still playing obviously. They've got him playing. If they thought he needed knee surgery, trust me, the Sixers would have dealt with it. He's playing right now.

"And he signed this $193 million contract extension. He's under contract now for five more years for $300 million. They have to get this right. And right now, they have no option. They have to figure this out."

If the Sixers even wanted to move on from Embiid, they likely would be able to trade him. The New York Knicks were one of the teams long connected to a trade for Embiid, but they cycled through their tradeable assets last year for Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns.

"He's not tradeable right now," added Windhorst. "That contract makes his value not realistic. And just on Friday, Daryl Morey coming out of the trade deadline still reaffirm 'We think he's a top-five player. We don't regret signing Paul George.'

"The future going forward is around Joel Embiid, so he's double, triple, quadruple down on it. And he really has to because that contract makes it impossible. They have to figure out a way to get him right. Trust me, they're trying. They are seeking all kinds of Alternatives trying to make it happen."

Via Brian Windhorst/ESPN

Morey isn't going to trade him right now anyway, so I don't see how this is relevant.

That Blake Griffin got traded the first year of his clippers extension makes me skeptical that any trade is impossible, Windy

Nico: "Hold my coffee"

no kidding worst contact in the nba

Bah, humbug. He'll probably get traded for Anthony Davis and a pick this offseason when AD returns from injury because AD gained a pound during his injury

Trust the process?

This is NOT TRUE. If 76er offers Embiid for Beal + those lowly 1st round picks, Suns will bite.

akula1488 wrote:This is NOT TRUE. If 76er offers Embiid for Beal + those lowly 1st round picks, Suns will bite.

Beal is more durable than Embiid and has a shorter contract. Sixers would be the team that needs to add picks to the deal.

Embiid for Zion

Revived wrote:

akula1488 wrote:This is NOT TRUE. If 76er offers Embiid for Beal + those lowly 1st round picks, Suns will bite.

Beal is more durable than Embiid and has a shorter contract. Sixers would be the team that needs to add picks to the deal.

And yet the suns would in hopes of getting embiids health right because if they did he is wayy better than beal hence why the suns would include the picks

Vegeta10176 wrote:

Revived wrote:

akula1488 wrote:This is NOT TRUE. If 76er offers Embiid for Beal + those lowly 1st round picks, Suns will bite.

Beal is more durable than Embiid and has a shorter contract. Sixers would be the team that needs to add picks to the deal.

And yet the suns would in hopes of getting embiids health right because if they did he is wayy better than beal hence why the suns would include the picks

That’s why I think it is a fair trade. Embiid when healthy is a better fit and MVP caliber player and younger but the contract is two years longer and more injury risk. The 1st round picks Suns can trade are low value any way but with all considered I think Embidd is still worth a little more

https://www.espn.com/video/clip/_/id/43802463

Embiid turning into the new Ben Simmons for the Sixers...injuries and now passing up open shots in late game situations. Philly is cursed.

Embiid at this stage of his career reminds me of when the Knicks had Ewing, but he was doing more harm than good.

For everyone who says the Suns would trade for him, they can't because Beal makes less money than Embiid and they can't add salary because they can't aggregate salaries.

Edited: DOUBLE POST

I would of traded him a couple years ago for a boatload of assets. He is not a player you build a Championship team around.

TMac Culloch wrote:That Blake Griffin got traded the first year of his clippers extension makes me skeptical that any trade is impossible, Windy

Apples and oranges for me

Injury History
At the time Blake got traded, he had missed just 183 of 763 career games AKA 24%.
This includes playoffs and his would-be rookie season where he sat out all 82.

Versus Embiid has missed 415 of a possible 926 career games (44.8%).
And in the past 2 seasons it's worse -- he sat out 82 of 146 (56.2%)

Recent Play
Griffin had played in 14 of the 16 games before the trade and was averaging 21 pts 8 reb 6 ast on .476/.324/.793 in that stretch. And this compared closely to his career averages of 21 pts 9.2 reb 4.3 ast on .508/.324/.683.

Versus Embiid has played in just 6 of the past 25 games and averaging 22.5 pts 8.7 reb 5.8 ast on .427/.250/807.
And his career averages are of course much better at 27.7 pts 11 reb 3.7 ast on .501/.339/.828.

Track Record
Blake at least had a meaningful healthy period of his career for Detroit to consider -- there was a 5 season stretch from age 21 to 25 where Griffin played in 419 of 422 possible games (99.3%)

Embiid has no 3 year stretch -- let alone 5 -- where he has played in 80% of possible games.
This means he's never averaged even 65 of 82 played in any 3 year period.

Remaining Contract
Blake had 3 years left counting at <30% of the cap on average
Embiid has 4 years left (beyond this one), counting at >36% of the cap (based on projections).

Age
Blake was 28 when he was traded.
Embiid turns 31 on March 16th.



Embiid is on a whole other plane of risk IMO