Who Joins Embiid Simmons As Philadelphia Core?

The Philadelphia 76ers wisely extended rookie contracts for Joel Embiid and Jahlil Okafor, anticipating Ben Simmons return next month. But which players will join them as the Philadelphia core of the future?

The Philadelphia 76ers exercised their options to extend the rookie contracts of Joel Embiid, Jahlil Okafor, and Ben Simmons over a month ago, on October 26th, 2016. At the time, the move was simply the jurisprudence of an NBA locking in their discounted options for young players.

But that was then, this is now.

After the Philadelphia 76ers had success at pairing Joel Embiid and Jahlil Okafor on the basketball court simultaneously when facing the Orlando Magic recently, the importance  of that harmless move has grown considerably.

The tradition of Sam Hinkie’s tenure as president of the Philadelphia 76ers has been the vigilance of keeping an eye to the future. What will be alongside what is.

Yes.  The “is” is simply a team extending rookie contracts at the start of an NBA season.  But this is a roster that has, is, and will undergoing countless remakes and redirections. In fact, it may only be this year, with the strong showing of rookie center Joel Embiid, that the team finally begins to anchor players into position and build around those core players.

The thrill of these sweeping changes yet-to-come rests in the anticipation. So let’s join the party! Who joins the Core?