The Philadelphia 76ers surprisingly ended up winning the LeBron James bidding war. Now, they are slated to be on the receiving end of his continued greatness. Of course, his on-court wonders are a given, but his greatest contribution to the team even before playing a single game is something that Joel Embiid has never been able to consistently provide to the franchise –– availability.
As everyone knows, LeBron puts a heavy emphasis on keeping his body right. He has never been an injury-prone player. It is only in his recent seasons with the Lakers that he started to miss games, and even then, he is still suiting up in the vast majority of games. Well, without making it sound like an indictment, the same simply cannot be said for Embiid.
LeBron gives the 76ers something Embiid has never been able to provide
It has already been reported multiple times this summer that Embiid is in much healthier shape, which should make his availability in training camp less of a mystery, unlike in past seasons. However, his injury risk is still significant, which is probably the main reason why regular season prognostications for the 76ers typically do not mean much compared to other squads.
To be fair, Embiid missing games is not entirely on him given the circumstances. The 76ers have manufactured a well-thought-out preservation program for his body, meaning that he should remain sidelined by design in the second leg of back-to-backs and other games in tiresome stretches of the schedule.
Be that as it may, it is definitely nice to see LeBron could give the 76ers some much-needed breath of fresh air in the availability department. Aside from Embiid, Philly has had some injury-prone stars over the years, such as Ben Simmons and Paul George, which has made the injury bug the biggest determinant of this team's collective ceiling time and time again.
LeBron may be old, but his body is still definitely gold. The 76ers are going to need a strong regular season in order to best position themselves to get key advantages in the playoffs, which makes his addition all the more beneficial for the entire group. Hopefully, Embiid and the others can avoid the injury bug for the most part in the upcoming season in order for them to be able to fully maximize the surplus of talent on the roster.
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