76ers News: JJ Redick Ends Joel Embiid 'Free-Throw Merchant' Narrative

Former Sixers guard ends debate surrounding reigning MVP

As Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid is on pace to lead the league in scoring for a third straight season, some try to discredit him. While many feel the reigning MVP gets too many free points from the foul line, one former player decided to put that narrative to rest. 

One person who has seen how special of a talent Joel Embiid is up close is JJ Redick. The sharpshooting guard played in nearly 150 games for the Sixers over a span of two seasons. Since his retirement, Redick has made a name for himself in the broadcasting/podcasting space. 

During a recent episode of The Old Man and The Three, Redick went into the narrative of Embiid getting an abundance of free throws. He proceeded to run down a list of stars who shot the same average of free throws at their peak as Embiid. Some of the names mentioned include older stars like Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley, to current stars like Kevin Durant and former Sixer James Harden. 

"The best players have always shot a lot of free-throws. Joel Embiid is a physical force, he's going to get fouled," Redick said. "That's what make defense hard. You have great offensive players who have an advantage, they will exploit those advantages." 

Since Embiid emerged as a star-level talent, he has averaged anywhere from 8.5 to 11.8 free-throw attempts per game in a season. So far this year, he is averaging 11.4,  which is lower than his average in 2023 and 2022. 

The problem that critics have is that Embiid gets to the line a lot and is an elite free-throw shooter for a big man. For a majority of his career, he has converted at least 80% of his free-throws. Right now, his percentage is sitting just under 90%. 

As Redick mentioned, great players have always created ways to put refs in a position to make calls. Embiid should not be viewed less of when he's following a blueprint laid out across multiple eras.