According to 76ers president of basketball operations Mike Gansey, Joel Embiid is healthy, “ready to go,” and even more motivated now that LeBron James and Jaylen Brown are wearing the same jersey.
That’s either the best news in Philadelphia or the beginning of the NBA’s latest superteam headache.
“Joel is great,” Gansey said in an interview with ESPN’s Kevin Negandhi that aired Thursday. “This is like the first summer I think in a while that he’s been healthy, so he’s been in the gym working out. He’s been lifting weights. He’s extra motivated. He wants to play a lot of games, and he’s excited about the group we’ve built now.
“Even before these trades and LeBron, I think he was excited. So he’s motivated to have a good year and he’s ready to go.”
Now Embiid isn’t expected to do everything himself. LeBron brings his legendary basketball IQ, while Brown adds another elite scorer and defender. Suddenly, opposing teams can’t just throw three defenders at Embiid and hope for the best.
How many games Embiid plays in 2026-27 remains to be seen. The center has played a combined 96 regular-season games over the past three seasons and has not played in more than 40 games since 2022-23, his MVP season.
Gansey said the team would decide the best course of action for Embiid once the schedule was released next week.
“We’ll sit down, talk to him, talk to performance staff, talk to [coach] Nick [Nurse] and try to figure out a plan,” Gansey said when asked if he has a number in mind for how many games Embiid would play. “These guys want to play every game, but we got to map it out and see what’s best for him and the team.”
Gansey also hinted that Embiid is playing with extra motivation. That’s probably because expectations have gone through the roof. When you add LeBron James to your roster, nobody wants to hear excuses about “building chemistry.”
Gansey said he watched tape of James and Embiid playing together for USA Basketball during their gold medal run at the 2024 Olympics. He said he felt the duo played “pretty, pretty well together” but understands it will take time for Nurse to mesh a potent starting five of James, Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, Brown and Embiid.
“Any given night, anyone can be the guy,” Gansey said. “So I think sacrifice will be big for us. But Joel is arguably the best and most talented big I’ve ever been around. … He’s going to be a huge piece to our success. We have LeBron and Jaylen, but Joel’s going to be as important as those guys.
The Sixers have assembled a roster built to win now. There are no more “wait until next season” speeches. No more rebuilding talk, and no more moral victories.
It’s championship or bust!
