Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers have already planned some scheduled absences for the 2023 NBA MVP this season. Embiid, who has struggled with injuries since being drafted third overall in the 2014 NBA Draft, made a startling proclamation about his playing status going forward as it pertains to back-to-backs.
“If I had to guess, I would probably never play back-to-backs the rest of my career,” Embiid told ESPN.
The reasoning behind it is simple: the Sixers and Embiid want him to be healthy for the postseason, and if that means sitting out games during the regular season to ensure he’s capable of playing heavy minutes in the playoffs, then so be it. That’s even more true given that this is the best Sixers roster assembled since Embiid’s been the franchise star.
Adding Paul George this summer gives the Sixers another star player to go to on offense, especially when Embiid’s not on the floor or missing a game. Reuniting with Andre Drummond to be Embiid’s backup ensures there’s not a significant drop off on the defensive side of the ball when the Sixers star is on the bench, and even adding on someone like Caleb Martin and bringing in Eric Gordon gives the Sixers depth to allow Embiid to not have to play so many minutes until the postseason.
While the Sixers have been a good team over the years, they haven’t been able to figure things out when Embiid misses time or if he’s on the bench. Last season, the Sixers were 5.9 points per 100 possessions better when Embiid was playing compared to when he sat. That trend is similar if you stretch back to the 2020-21 season, too. You can just look at the wins and losses to see how much of an impact Embiid has. Prior to him going out with a knee injury that forced him to miss 28 games last season, the Sixers sat fifth in the East. With Embiid out, the Sixers ended up having to go through the play-in to earn the No. 7 spot in the East playoffs.
The hope is that with the additions of George, Martin, Drummond, Gordon and the continued ascension of Tyrese Maxey, the Sixers will be able to not only stay afloat without Embiid, but still be dominant.
But where this gets interesting for Embiid is when you start crunching the numbers to see how this will play out. Philadelphia has 15 back-to-backs this season, so if Embiid truly intends on sitting at least one game in each of those back-to-backs, he’s already guaranteed to miss 15 games. That puts him playing a maximum of 67 games. That doesn’t include any possible one-off games Embiid may be out as inevitable ailments that pop up, putting him dangerously close to missing that 65-game threshold the league now requires to be eligible for most end-of-season awards. In other words, we could see a second consecutive season of Embiid not making an All-NBA team, as well as not being eligible for awards like MVP, Defensive Player of the Year and All-Defensive teams.
That may not be something Embiid cares about though, as he told ESPN, “I’ve accomplished everything [individually], but there’s one thing missing, which is to win a championship.” With that in mind, it appears Embiid is focused on one thing this season more than ever, which is to win a championship. And him not playing in back-to-backs is a major step in ensuring he’s healthy for what the Sixers hope to be a long postseason.
