Grading Joel Embiid's $193 million 76ers contract extension

Yesterday at 02:54 PM

The Philadelphia 76ers and Joel Embiid have agreed on a three-year, $192.9 million contract extension. Embiid, through all the turbulence of his time in Philadelphia, appears to be set to become a Sixer for life.

This extension Embiid put pen to paper on will be tacked onto the final two years of his current deal, which will pay him $51.4 million this upcoming season and $55.2 the season after, according to ESPN front office insider Bobby Marks. Embiid has a player option for the 2028-29 season, the final year of this new extension. By that point, the hope from the MVP and the team is that they have a championship banner to show.

"I started a Sixer and want to be right here for the rest of my career. I had no idea when I was drafted as a 20-year-old kid from Cameroon how lucky I was to be in Philadelphia," Embiid said in the team’s official announcement. "Through all the ups and downs, this city and the fans have been everything, and I am so grateful for how they've embraced me. I want to thank [managing partners Josh Harris and David Blitzer] and the entire organization. Philadelphia is home and it's time to bring this community an NBA championship."

Embiid is 30 years old and just played his fewest amount of games in a season, 39 total games, since his rookie year. The positive energy around this deal could sour given the possibility, if not inevitability, of an injury. But there was no other way for Philly to go other than retain their homegrown superstar. Extending arguably the best basketball player on the planet is an easy decision, even if it will be harder to manage in the future.

Why 76ers chose now for Joel Embiid extension

Embiid’s health is the primary factor for how well this new extension ages. Coming off a season where he suffered a meniscus injury and some other nicks and bruises, there are legitimate concerns about having over $50 million on the books a season — including over $60 in the final two seasons — for a player who may be only good for 50-or-so games a season.

No one can predict future injuries, especially years out. At the same time, there isn't much of a reason to be optimistic about Embiid’s body holding up as he goes deeper into his 30s.

After spending the summer with Team USA, which took home the gold medal at the 2024 Olympics, and hitting the gym with his new Sixers teammates in the lead-up to training camp, the big man should be in much better shape to begin the 2024-25 campaign. Maintaining his conditioning and keeping his body in tip-top shape has never been more important for the big fella. This will now have to become an even bigger priority to ensure Embiid can still hold up over the course of the long season.

Superstars like Embiid are always worth maximum contracts, so paying such a hefty price for his services was a no-brainer. The Sixers are going to be big-time spenders in the future, but locking Embiid down now will help them manage that. Since the extension doesn’t kick in for two more years, Philadelphia can still operate under the second apron for the time being. This was a point of emphasis for many teams over the summer.

The 76ers could have waited until later into the season or next offseason to extend Embiid. They could have waited to see how he holds up over this season, withholding what will most likely be his last big payday as motivation to do whatever it takes to make a deep playoff run. Doing so would have been a bold move, but not one without some merit. Essentially, the Sixers would’ve had the mindset of, “See it to believe it,” before shelling out a massive contract.

However, with the team’s core already in place for the foreseeable future — including head coach Nick Nurse and President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey, whose contracts go through the 2027-28 season — there was no point in acting like Embiid wasn't eventually going to get extended for the maximum amount.

The team is too far deep into the Embiid experience to pretend like they wouldn’t ride it out, especially after revamping the roster around him.

76ers’ busy offseason shows belief in Embiid

Teams deprive themselves of a jumpstart for rebuilding by holding onto their stars for too long. The Oklahoma City Thunder traded Russell Westbrook and Paul George when they were still in their prime years, earning them a treasure chest of assets that they used to become a championship contender with a young roster highlighted by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Conversely, the Washington Wizards and Chicago Bulls let their core of stars peter out to the point where they had little value. After falling victim to the sunk-cost fallacy, these teams are each rebuilding without the extra draft picks that could have accelerated their efforts.

The Sixers, after bolstering their roster with the addition of George and the extension of Tyrese Maxey, snuffed the idea of Embiid being involved in trade rumors. There was no value in opting to end the Embiid era prematurely in order to get a head start on the next era. For a player like Embiid, it’s completely understandable since he may be the best talent the franchise has ever seen. And the team, for all its shortcomings, is still a top-five organization in the East at worst.

All it takes now is one special run to heal all the heartache from the past.

Still, immense pressure is on the organization and Embiid to prove that this was the right path to take. Life after Embiid’s prime is going to be rough, so Philadelphia had to make the most of what they have right now.

As long as his body doesn't fully give out on him — a possibility that sadly must be taken seriously — Embiid’s game should age gracefully. The former MVP has a spectacular shooting touch in the mid-range and from deep, plus he has grown as a playmaker over his career. Defensively, Embiid remains underrated by much of the NBA-watching public, as his rim protection and ability to hold offenses at bay on the perimeter are better than he gets credit for. The latter skill will really decline as he ages, but even as an elder statesman, Embiid will be a seven-foot-tall behemoth that few players will want to challenge in the paint.

When Embiid isn’t an automatic scoring machine — a form he still has several years left as — he will become a fantastic secondary scoring option who defends the paint well. It is possible that he could become a Brook Lopez-type role player once his days as a world-beating superstar are over. That version of “The Process” can still be a big part of a winning team.

It is very unlikely that Embiid’s production will be worth $69.1 million during the 2028-29 season. Then again, when you sign an aging superstar to these extensions, the final year or two are bound to be for bloated amounts. In order to retain said superstar, these are the costs, even if it will likely impede team-building when it’s time to write the check. At the end of the day, if there’s no new championship to look back at when that time comes, the question of how much it was really worth it will loom large.

The 76ers are choosing to ride the Embiid train until the wheels fall off.

Ultimately, the crash will hit harder without a championship banner to show for it. The team brass and newly paid franchise superstar must commit all the way to bringing the Larry O’Brien Trophy back to Philadelphia.

Joel Embiid, 76ers contract extension grade: A-

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