Two years ago, Joel Embiid found himself envious of Jayson Tatum.
At the time, Tatum and the Boston Celtics were fresh off winning the 2023-24 NBA championship. The Celtics took advantage of a few CBA loopholes to build an unsustainably deep team (as the past two offseasons have coldly demonstrated), and Embiid took notice.
That summer, Embiid’s trainer, Drew Hanlen, said the big fella gave him “trouble” about Tatum.
“Well, yeah, he’s got a superteam,” Hanlen said while impersonating Embiid. “If I had
a superteam too, I would win too, you know?”
Embiid, who was sitting right next to him, chimed in: “I mean, I tell him the same thing. Like, if I go 5-for-20, we get blown out.”
Two years later, the tables have turned.
Tatum’s former teammate, 2024 Finals MVP Jaylen Brown, is now in Philadelphia. He wasn’t the Sixers’ only blockbuster acquisition this offseason, either. The Brown trade helped convince LeBron James to finish his career in the City of Brotherly Love on a two-year, veteran-minimum contract. (It’s been nearly a week and that last sentence is still hard to comprehend.)
Between LeBron, Brown, Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe, the Sixers arguably have the most star-studded starting five in the NBA. However, championships aren’t won on paper. The Sixers have plenty of work to do over the next year (or two) to figure out their new hierarchy.
Embiid will be key in that.
Embiid’s role on the new-look Sixers
Due to Embiid’s lengthy injury history, the Sixers already spent the past season pivoting away from revolving around him. The arrivals of Brown and LeBron should only accelerate that.
The Sixers no longer need Embiid to average 30-plus points per game for them to have a chance most nights. If anything, they need Embiid to take a hard turn in the opposite direction. They need him to focus on more of the traditional big-man responsibilities.
Last season, Embiid averaged a career-low 7.7 rebounds per game, and the Sixers were 17th in rebounds per game and 14th in rebounding percentage. This offseason, they effectively swapped Andre Drummond, one of the generation’s best rebounders, for Ariel Hukporti, who served as the New York Knicks’ third-string center last season. They also lost Paul George and Kelly Oubre Jr., who were fourth and fifth on the team in rebounds per game last year, respectively.
Adding Brown and LeBron should help make up for the departures of George and Oubre in the rebounding department, but Hukporti and Adem Bona aren’t likely to gobble up rebounds like Drummond did. The Sixers need Embiid to hone his box-out techniques and limit opposing teams’ chances of grabbing offensive rebounds.
Embiid also needs to focus more on screen-setting offensively instead of standing at the elbow and demanding the ball. During the regular season last year, Embiid was tied with Lakers center Deandre Ayton for sixth leaguewide in screen assists per game (3.7), and he was tied with Celtics center Neemias Queta for fourth in screen assists points per game (8.8). In last year’s playoffs, he was third in both screen assists (4.6) and screen assist points (10.7) per game, trailing only Oso Ighodaro and Rudy Gobert.
Given the amount of offensive talent on this Sixers roster, Embiid should make it a goal to lead the league in both categories this year. The co-stars in his supporting cast could help make that a reality, too.
Since Embiid no longer has to average 30-plus points per game every night, he can reserve more of his energy for defense, rebounding and screen-setting. He doesn’t need to command the ball on most offensive possessions anymore. LeBron and Maxey figure to be the primary conductors, while Edgecombe and Brown will chip in as well.
That isn’t to say that the Sixers should pivot away from Embiid entirely and turn him into a glorified DeAndre Jordan. It would be a waste of his talent not to take advantage of his 1-on-1 post scoring and his improved passing vision. But neither Embiid nor the rest of the team should ever feel compelled to play hero ball. They have enough talent in their starting five to routinely generate great shot attempts.
The “there’s only one ball!” concern-trolling isn’t going away, at least not until we see these new-look Sixers in action. If Embiid were younger, healthier and in the midst of his MVP prime, perhaps it would be more of a legitimate worry. But Embiid should be at a stage of his career where his individual production no longer matters to him. He’s earned generational wealth and a host of individual accolades. The one thing he still hasn’t done in the NBA is go on a deep playoff run, much less win a title.
The additions of LeBron and Brown this offseason will give Embiid his best-ever chance of doing that. There’s no guarantee of how long that lasts, though. LeBron signed a two-year deal, but he’s turning 42 in December. The Sixers are suddenly smack-dab in a win-now window that appeared all but closed a month ago.
Taking advantage of that will require major sacrifice from everyone, not just Embiid. But for Embiid—the crown jewel and last remnant of the Process—buying into a reduced role and a sharper focus on the little things could make all the difference for the new-look Sixers.
Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac and salary-cap information via RealGM.
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