Joel Embiid obviously wants to win an NBA title.
Now, though, it sounds like he’s ready to leave Philadelphia to accomplish that.
The 76ers star and reigning league MVP spoke at the Uninterrupted Sports Film Festival in Los Angeles on Thursday with Maverick Carter. A clip from that event gained traction on social media on Monday, and made it clear that Embiid isn’t planning to end his career in Philadelphia if he can’t win a championship there.
"I just wanna win a championship, whatever it takes," Embiid said. "I don't know where that's gonna be, whether that's in Philly or anywhere else. I just wanna have a chance to accomplish — I wanna see what it feels like to win that first one and then you can think about the next one. It's not easy. It takes more than one, two, three guys. You've got to have good people around you, and myself, every single day, I work hard to be at that level so I can make it happen."
Was not expecting Joel Embiid to say “or anywhere else” when talking about championships… He’s close to his breaking point here in Philly. pic.twitter.com/0MqXX1rnrT
— AJ Torres (@ajtorres1230) July 17, 2023
It’s easy to understand why Embiid could be frustrated with the 76ers. The 29-year-old averaged a career-high 33.1 points, 10.2 rebounds and 4.2 assists last season while winning his first league MVP award. The six-time All-Star shot nearly 55% from the field, and led the NBA in scoring for a second straight season.
But since Embiid made his debut in 2016, the 76ers have failed to make it out of the Eastern Conference semifinals. They’ve lost five times in the last six seasons at that point in the playoffs, and the franchise hasn’t been to the NBA Finals since 2001.
The 76ers fired coach Doc Rivers after they lost to the Boston Celtics 4-3 in the semifinals last season, and opted to hire former Toronto Raptors coach Nick Nurse to replace him. Nurse, a former Coach of the Year who helped lead Toronto to its first and only NBA championship, was fired by the Raptors after they missed the playoffs.
Embiid signed a four-year, $213 million extension with the team that runs through the 2026-27 season. That deal will pay him more than $53 million per season on average.
Though it would take a lot to move Embiid in that deal, perhaps his biggest teammate wants out of Philadelphia now, too. James Harden picked up his player option with the team earlier this summer and said he wants to be traded, reportedly to the Los Angeles Clippers.
While Embiid’s future in Philadelphia doesn’t hinge on Harden’s plans by any means, it’s hard to imagine Embiid happily sticking around if the 76ers can’t replace Harden with a substantial core that works around Embiid.
And if the team can’t get to the NBA Finals, let alone the Eastern Conference finals, in the near future, Embiid’s comments about playing elsewhere before he retires are sure to become far less subtle than they were on Thursday night.
