Sports journalism is back. That was the biggest takeaway from Dotun Akintoye’s phenomenal Joel Embiid feature that ran on ESPN on Wednesday morning. The enigmatic Philadelphia 76ers superstar provided rare access and vulnerability talking about the ups and downs of his NBA career in the type of longform piece that rarely exists in today’s media landscape. Embiid is a fascinating subject as he enters the 2025-26 season as the league’s biggest wildcard.
Embiid played only 19 games last season and never looked like the player who won 2023 NBA MVP and looked poised to potentially repeat before a knee injury interrupted a dominant campaign the following year. Now 31 years old, Embiid should still be in his prime, but injuries have taken a toll on his body. This is nothing new for Embiid, he who missed his first two full seasons and most of his third season with foot injuries after being drafted. The fact that Embiid rose to become MVP and one of the greatest per-minute scorers in league history is a remarkable story that gets lost in the constantly talk about his professionalism.
Embiid is careful not to make excuses throughout the feature while also explaining his side of the story. It’s worth it to carve out 30 minutes of your day to read the full 12,000-word piece. Since everyone doesn’t have time for that, here are a few parts of the story that were particularly illuminating.
Embiid’s early career injury rehab was overseen by an intern
Embiid had been ruled out for his rookie season after needing surgery to repair a broken navicular bone in his foot. The team reportedly believed Embiid was being “lazy” in his recovery as his weight ballooned, while Embiid felt like he had to protect his own heath because his employer didn’t believe him.
Former Sixers GM Sam Hinkie made hires from outside the organization with the goal of getting Embiid back on the court. He eventually hired David Martin from the Australian Institute of Sport to oversee his recovery. Prior to Martin joining the organization, Embiid’s rehab was only being tracked by an intern:
Hinkie, meanwhile, raced to modernize the 76ers’ health and performance operation with Embiid in mind. At the start of Embiid’s tenure with the 76ers, his rehab had been overseen by an intern.
He doesn’t talk to James Harden anymore
The closest the Sixers ever came to breaking through in the Embiid era came in 2023 when they had the Boston Celtics on the ropes in the second round of the playoffs. The Sixers won Game 1 of the series with Embiid out with injury, and then built a 3-2 series lead when he returned. Philadelphia would drop Game 6 and Game 7 to end their season, and then contract drama started with Harden.
Harden took a discount to help the Sixers build a competitive team a year earlier. He thought the favor would be returned in the summer, but instead the front office didn’t want to offer him the contract he desired. The feud peaked when Harden went to China for a camp and called Daryl Morey a liar. He was eventually traded to the Clippers just before the start of the next season.
The contract talks between Philly and Harden became so toxic that ruined what was a strong relationship between Embiid and his former point guard. According to Embiid, Harden won’t talk to him anymore.
“No one knows this, but even James [Harden] is not talking to me,” Embiid tells me. “That’s the part I don’t like about being ‘that guy,’ because it puts you in the middle of those situations. Because if you ask James, he probably believes I had something to do with him not being here. And I’m just like, ‘I won the scoring title. You won the assists title. We had a pick-and-roll that was unstoppable.’”
Nicolas Batum didn’t know how Embiid could walk
Embiid was playing the best basketball of his life in Jan. 2024 when he suffered a torn meniscus in his knee against the Golden State Warriors. He rushed back for the playoffs and a first round series against the Knicks, but the hits kept coming: he was diagnosed with Bell’s palsy that left the left side of his face frozen all while fighting his way back through the knee injury.
Embiid and the Sixers both broke down in the series on their way to elimination. Sixers teammate Nicolas Batum couldn’t believe Embiid could walk in his current condition, let alone play in an NBA game.
“I was sitting next to him in the locker room,” his former teammate Nicolas Batum told me. “I saw his knee before every game, after every game.”
Batum shook his head. “I saw his knee,” he said again. “I have no idea how he could even walk.”
Embiid still has trust issues in the organization
A big theme of the feature is the lack of trust between Embiid and the Sixers throughout his career. There are multiple examples of this in the story, but the most recent one comes when Embiid told ESPN reporter Lisa Salters that he may need another surgery in Feb. as he failed to recover from the knee injury keeping him off the floor.
This came as a surprise to the Sixers, including Morey. To hear Embiid tell it, the organization wasn’t believing him on how he was feeling, so he had to do something different.
“If you don’t want to listen to me, then I have to find something else, to make sure that I’m going to be listened to,” Embiid tells me. “When I told Lisa that, I think it was a cry for help. … It feels like everybody refuses to acknowledge what’s actually going on.”
Embiid knows who leaked Maxey’s comment
The Sixers held a team meeting last year where at one point young co-star Tyrese Maxey confronted Embiid about his tardiness. Someone leaked that detail to the media, and it infuriated Embiid.
Embiid says he knows he is responsible for the leak. This once again ties into the trust issues between the star big man and the organization.
“I know who leaked it,” Embiid tells me during a late-night phone call after the season ends.
“You do?”
“Yeah, but I’m not going to — the past is the past,” Embiid says. “The one thing I’ll say is, it’s hard being around people that do those sorts of stuff.
“That goes back to the trust thing. Once you cross that — you can’t expect me to be part of a team meeting again. That’s just not going to happen.”
Read the full feature. It sure feels like the Sixers have failed Embiid at every turn of his career. Let’s just hope this isn’t the final chapter of his time in the NBA.
