The former multi-time NBA champion Draymond Green has never been a Joel Embiid hater. There is plenty of respect for the Philadelphia 76ers’ superstar coming from the Golden State Warriors forward.
However, Green does share a common criticism of the big man, which causes him to believe that Embiid simply cannot be considered a top-three big man in the league. Green goes Nikola Jokic, Victor Wembanyama, and Karl-Anthony Towns. The veteran forward dropped a typical quote, which Embiid just has to hear and accept at this stage of his career.
“The best ability is availability”
It’s not just about Embiid missing games, though; it’s also about Towns’ ability to help the Knicks get to the Eastern Conference Finals round, as well as going to the NBA Finals and bringing a title back to New York. Sure, Towns had plenty of help—possibly more than Embiid ever did in the playoffs—but that doesn’t take the accomplishments off his resume.
The fact is, Embiid is 10 years deep and hasn’t touched the Eastern Conference Finals. Over the past three seasons, he failed to sniff 65 games. In 2023-2024, an alarming trend of knee-related setbacks started. Embiid played in just 39 games that year. Although he powered through a setback to face the Knicks for six games, he was far from healthy.
In the following year, Embiid played in just 19 games. He underwent season-ending surgery on the same knee, and the Sixers missed the playoffs. Last season, Embiid finished the regular season with 38 games played. He missed the first three games of the playoff run against the Boston Celtics. During the second-round series against the New York Knicks, Embiid missed one out of four games. Against Boston, he was a game-changer. Against New York, nothing mattered. The Knicks worked the Sixers, no matter who was on the floor.
Embiid is probably tired of hearing criticism about his lack of consistency in the availability department, especially because there’s only so much he can control, but there isn’t anything wrong with a little bit of added motivation ahead of a critical season. Embiid has plenty of help. The Sixers added LeBron James and Jaylen Brown to link with Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe. The big man doesn’t need to be a superhero, but proving he’s truly top three when healthy will be a difference-maker for the Sixers.
And who knows? Maybe Draymond's comments give Embiid a little extra juice for those critical Sixers-Knicks battles, which will feature multiple installments of Embiid and KAT if both are healthy.
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