Sixers: How many players do they have in The Athletic’s top 125?

Sixers included in The Athletic’s top 125: Joel Embiid

RANKING: Tier 2A (8-10)

No surprise here. Joel Embiid is the highest-ranked Sixer, and one of the 10 best players in the NBA. He shares the 2A sub-tier with only two other players, Luka Doncic and Anthony Davis. That feels like appropriate company, even if Embiid is clearly a more dynamic No. 1 option than Davis.

For Embiid, there’s not much left to prove after last season. He’s one of the few players who is truly elite on both sides of the ball. He anchored one of the NBA’s top defenses, and was an absolute workhorse offensively all season. This was Embiid’s most efficient campaign to date, with improvement as a passer, shooter, and decision-maker. He cut down on turnovers, was deadly from mid-range, and consistently made the right read out of double teams.

Was Embiid perfect? Of course not. He did commit eight turnovers in Game 6 against Atlanta, then doubled down with eight turnovers in Game 7. Fatigue is an issue, which is only exacerbated by Philadelphia’s incomplete roster construction. Despite that, Embiid is a top 10 player without doubt. There isn’t much of an argument to the contrary.

Nikola Jokic being a full tier ahead of Embiid will ruffle some feathers, but he’s the reigning MVP and had a better overall season in 2020-21, despite the Nuggets’ lower seed and injury-riddled rotation. It’s fair. Embiid is in pursuit, though, and season-to-season variance could put him right above Jokic this time next year.