CLEVELAND -- Everybody in the NBA goes through dry spells. Even the greats. It's just a part of life in the NBA.
For Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid, he is in the middle of a big slump to begin the 2026-27 season. The big fella is shooting just 3-for-28 from deep through eight games, and his overall field goal percentage has dipped to just 38.1% on the season, following an especially tough 0-for-9 showing in Friday's 119-95 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
"I think not a lot of easy ones," Embiid said after the loss to the Cavs. "Feels like every action just ends in a jump shot, so just got to figure that to get easy ones. But yeah, just missed them, and some of them (the fouls) not called. Just take this one and move on."
Coach Nick Nurse
has repeatedly said that he believes all of this will level out for Embiid. He is an elite player, obviously, and is just in the middle of a rough shooting stretch. He is a career 49.9% shooter and his shot selection is in line with his career norms. The shots will eventually drop. It's just the nature of the game of basketball, but it also has to be weighing on him mentally.
"It’s tough," Embiid said. "I mean, even some of the ones that I take, I mean, I’m just taking them because my teammates are just yelling 'shoot it.' But, yeah, when it doesn’t feel right and it’s not going in, I feel like it’s mechanical. I just got to work on some things. The way I jump, the way I land when I take a jumper. Yeah, we’re going to look at the film and just keep working at it."
Embiid has always had good shooting mechanics. He has always been a player who can score at all three levels and it has allowed him to be one of the more successful players in the history of the league. Stuff like this is going to happen. If this is something that he feels is correctable, then he is going to get back at it in a way that will allow him and the Sixers to eventually be able to move forward.
"The way I’m jumping and my hands are just--it’s not what it used to be," Embiid stated. "So I just got to go back and look at the clips and see what we can change and got to just try to get better. That’s all we can do."
With that being said, the big fella has dealt with a ton of injuries over his career--especially, over the last two years. The 2023 MVP only played 19 games in the 2024-25 season and then 38 in the 2025-26 season. One has to wonder if those injuries are catching up to him and slowing him down a bit at this point.
"I think it’s just been being out basically the last two years," Embiid added. "Being in and out. And not really having the opportunity to get on the court as much to get the reps because of the load that we’re trying to manage. I would say probably the difference between the last couple years – the last two years, (compared to) the past – is probably I used to be able to be in the gym every single day and just get the reps in and just working on it. And that’s why it was so automatic and now, like, we’ve got to find a way to kind of mix it up because you got to manage a load so you don’t get as much reps as possible. But it’s an adjustment. You just got to keep working on it and hope it gets better."
The Sixers will take on the Chicago Bulls on Sunday to finish the road trip.
This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: Joel Embiid addresses his struggles after Sixers fall to Cavaliers
