The Jaylen Brown trade is still as hard to believe as it was when ESPN's Shams Charania first reported it last Wednesday. Just like that, the Philadelphia Sixers got significantly better, to the point where they will (or at least should) be real contenders next season. However, their biggest question still remains — Can Joel Embiid stay healthy enough to get them to that point?
Even with Brown now in town, joining Embiid and Tyrese Maxey, it will be the center who determines how far Philadelphia can go. If he can string together a season where he plays at least 60 games, that'd be a win, but what's more important is whether he can make it through four playoff series for the first time in his career.
At 32, that might be too much to ask of Embiid at this point in his career. The wear and tear of an 82-game season is grueling enough, and immediately following that up with the increased physicality of the postseason could be too much to bear.
You can spin that and say that having Brown around will help take the offensive pressure off Maxey and VJ Edgecombe when Embiid needs to miss time (to manage his workload), and that's true. But the Sixers will still need their star center, though they are better equipped to win without him.
Jaylen Brown trade might make Joel Embiid even more important
Philadelphia wasn't going to win a championship with the roster it had last season, though the first-round win over Boston made that feel possible, at least for a couple of days. Everyone saw how important Embiid still is, and now, as the Sixers are in a better position to contend for a title, Embiid is even more important.
It's been 12 years since Sixers fans sold (or at least tried to sell) themselves on the vision that their team could win a championship with Embiid. There have been a lot of highs and lows, emphasis on the latter, but the dream is still alive.
Time is ticking, though the Celtics helped alleviate that stress by taking on the remainder of Paul George's contract for Brown. Philadelphia has every intention of capitalizing on that gift, but, as it has been for the past several years, it will still come down to Embiid's availability, that is, as long as he's with the team.
His best days might be behind him, but that doesn't diminish his value, especially not after the Sixers acquired the missing piece that could help them get to where they've desperately tried to go for so long.
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