Focused Joel Embiid Feels Urgency to Win NBA Championship

Philadelphia added Paul George and locked up a championship-caliber core to long-term deals this summer, but the window to win may be short with an injury-prone, aging team.

Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid is aiming for a deep playoff run this season. / Brad Penner-Imagn Images

He has All-Star nods, All-NBA selections and an MVP. 

He has a sneaker deal, an Olympic gold medal and, as of last month, a contract extension that will push him over $500 million in career earnings. 

By most metrics, Joel Embiid’s career has been a success. 

Except one: Joel Embiid can’t win in the playoffs. 

A decade into his pro career—eight seasons, really, if you subtract the two that were lost to injury—and Embiid’s postseason résumé remains wafer thin. He has made seven playoff appearances. His Philadelphia 76ers teams have not advanced past the second round in any of them. He played with Ben Simmons … and couldn’t advance. He teamed with James Harden … and couldn’t advance. Last season, his star sidekick was Tyrese Maxey. They faced the New York Knicks in the first round … and couldn’t advance. 

This is the part where you usually read about how not all of it is on Embiid, that basketball is a team game, that injuries have had a crippling effect. All true. But a lot of it is on Embiid. The Sixers should have beaten the Atlanta Hawks in 2021. They held a 3–2 lead over the Boston Celtics in the ’23 conference semifinals and couldn’t close. Embiid has had periods of brilliance—his Game 6 against New York last spring, when he scored 39 points on a wounded knee in a valiant effort to try to stave off elimination—but the failures have piled up. 

On Monday, Embiid met with reporters. It was a productive offseason in Philadelphia. The Sixers, flush with cap space, signed All-Star Paul George to a four-year deal. Maxey got a new contract. Daryl Morey, Philly’s top basketball exec, shrewdly filled out the roster around them with veterans like Caleb Martin and Eric Gordon. Kelly Oubre Jr. has labeled the Sixers collection of three-and-D wings “the plumbers.” 

Around Embiid, everyone is happy. There’s no Simmons holdout or questions about whether Harden wants to be there. George is thrilled to be in Philadelphia. “It’s a real brotherhood,” he said. Maxey, just 23, is eager to take another step. 

“Everyone across the board has the same goal,” George said. “Trying to win a championship.”

Embiid wants it. More than anything, he wants a healthy shot at it. After last season ended, Embiid shot Morey a text. The gist of the message: Forget the regular season. I need to be healthy for the playoffs. Recognition isn’t important to Embiid this season. “No All-Star, no All-NBA,” Embiid said. “None of that.” He dropped between 25 and 30 pounds this summer, he says. He plans to drop more. The Sixers wouldn’t commit to a specific schedule, but it’s likely back-to-backs will be limited, as will three games in four nights. 

George joins the Sixers this season to pair with Embiid and Maxey. / Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

“Whatever it takes to make sure that I get to that point and I’m ready to go,” Embiid said. “Basically every single year of my career, I’ve been hurting in the playoffs. So I think that’s the goal. And it is all about doing whatever it takes to get there.”

When he’s on the floor, Embiid envisions a lighter workload. He has won the scoring title in two of the last three seasons. In last season’s injury-shortened campaign, he averaged 34.7 points per game. He says his focus this season will be empowering his teammates, specifically Maxey. At 30, Embiid still believes he can be dominant. With the talent around him, he doesn’t think he needs to be.

“I will [score] when I have to,” Embiid said. “If it means I have to score some points at some point, then I’m going to do it. But most of the time, I really want to focus on just really let the game come to me. I think in previous years I’ve had to do it because we didn’t have necessarily the manpower for me to take that step back and to put us in a position to win.”

There is urgency to win. This is an aging Sixers roster. George is 34. Gordon is 35. Kyle Lowry is 38. “We’re old,” George said. “I get it.” Embiid is in his prime but there are plenty of miles on that surgically stitched lower body. Philadelphia locked up a championship-caliber core to long-term deals this summer. But there may be a short window to call it championship caliber. 

That’s why Embiid is so focused. The success he experienced in the Olympics stuck with him. “I like winning,” Embiid said. For the first time in years, the Sixers will begin a season without some kind of internal drama. “Without any negativity,” Embiid said, “or outside noise.” He has another year playing in Nick Nurse’s system. He has another All-Star teammate alongside him. He has everything he needs to win. 

“I’m excited to just go out there and do my job,” Embiid said. 

A job he hopes he will still be working in June.