Joel Embiid Won’t Play Back-To-Back Games Anymore

NBA star Joel Embiid won’t play back-to-back games anymore.

The Philadelphia 76ers big man has an extensive injury history. 

“If I had to guess, I would probably never play back-to-backs the rest of my career,” Embiid told NBA reporter Tim Bontemps of ESPN. 

The Sixers lost to the New York Knicks in the first round of the 2023 playoffs. Embiid has never reached the conference finals. 

Philadelphia signed Paul George in the offseason. The team now has a “Big 3” of Embiid, George and Tyrese Maxey. 

“I’ve accomplished everything [individually],” Embiid told ESPN. “But there’s one thing missing, which is to win a championship.”

A seven-time All-Star, Embiid averaged 34.7 points, 11.0 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.7 blocks last season in 39 games while shooting 52.9% from the field, 38.8% from beyond the arc and 88.3% from the free-throw line. 

One of the top players in the NBA, Embiid has career averages of 27.9 points, 11.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 0.9 steals and 1.7 blocks. He won the 2022-23 MVP Award. 

“That’s a question I can only answer after we get on the floor,” Embiid said, when asked if he saw this season as his best chance to break through for a title. “We’ve got a pretty good amount of talent, but you’ve still got to go out and figure out how to do it. That’s why I’m excited for everybody to just be locked in for a couple years. … We’ve got a pretty good chance to accomplish something.”

The Sixers had a busy summer. Along with adding George, Philadelphia signed Eric Gordon, Andre Drummond and Caleb Martin and re-signed Kyle Lowry and Kelly Oubre Jr.

“I like where we stack up,” George told ESPN. “As we’ve been saying, Joel, he’s still a trump card, right? There’s nobody that can really match up with him. And then you just have great complimentary pieces around him.

“There’s just so much talent in this group. We can play fast, we can play small, we can play big, we can be a great defensive group. We can be really good offensively. … it’s definitely going to make for a fun season.”