While clearly the team’s best player, the Philadelphia 76ers should Joel Embiid‘s extension with a great deal of caution.
It comes as no surprise to anyone that Josh Harris and the Philadelphia 76ers want Joel Embiid to be a long-term piece in Philly, and will attempt to negotiate a contract extension with him this summer. It’s a desire comparable to wishing Sam Hinkie would return to Philadelphia on the back of a flying second-round pick, somehow purchase the team, and install his pre-pubescent son as general manager: there’s no single reason why you want that to happen, because you want it to happen for ALL of the reasons. That is, assuming Hinkie’s son is general manager in name only.
Philadelphia 76ers
Joel Embiid is an inimitable figure, a glorious seven-foot mass of social media wizardry and endless charisma who happens to be really good at basketball. And boy, is he good at basketball. You don’t singlehandedly turn a poor defense (111.1 DRTG) into one of the best in the league while you’re on the court (102.1 DRTG) if you aren’t. He’s everything we could’ve wanted and more in a franchise player, and there’s simply no way he doesn’t become one of the best centers in the league if he remains healthy.
Yet that terrible “if” is the “if” that could determine whether the end result of the Process is a multi-year dynasty, or an ultimately forgettable string of Conference Finals appearances. We knew when we took Embiid that the question of his health might linger above him like a cliched figurative rain cloud for his entire career. Taking a chance on franchise-altering was the right decision, both then and now. But there are no guarantees in this league, only varying degrees of uncertainty, and uncertainty could not be higher in the case of Joel Embiid.
It’s crucial, therefore, that Harris, Colangelo, and the rest of the Sixers front office display a healthy amount of caution in their extension negotiations with Embiid. Joel deserves to get paid, and paid he will be. But the Sixers cannot throw a maximum contract at his feet without taking precautions. The injury protections should be the sole focus of our attention if the extension gets done. And if they can cajole him into a hometown discount in the vein of Stephen Curry’s, so much the better.
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Embiid must know that the Sixers cannot let him walk next offseason, especially if he puts together a healthy season this upcoming year. There is no Process without him. That gives him quite a bit of leverage in these negotiations, even though there’s no immediate pressure to get a deal done. The Sixers are right to try and negotiate an extension now, but they must take care not to hand too much guaranteed money to Embiid without adequately insuring themselves in a worst-case scenario.
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(Stats via basketball-reference.com)