The Philadelphia 76ers had a blockbuster summer, acquiring Jaylen Brown from the Boston Celtics and signing LeBron James in free agency. The moves were made by new president of basketball operations Mike Gansey, who told ESPN’s Kevin Negandhi that franchise center Joel Embiid is “healthy” and “extra motivated.”
“Joel is great,” Gansey said. “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.”
Embiid posted a picture on social media of himself working out and it was evident that the All-Star has lost weight this summer.
The 76ers will start Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, Brown, James and Embiid next season. On paper, that looks like the best starting five in the NBA.
Gansey said he watched tape of James and Embiid playing together for USA Basketball at the 2024 Olympics. The former Ohio basketball star is excited to see how James, Embiid, Brown, Edgecombe and Maxey mesh next season.
“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.
“LeBron’s had a lot of usage his whole career, but last year [with] the Lakers with Luka out, he was the guy. Jaylen last year with Tatum out, he was the guy. VJ and Tyrese did a lot outside of when Joel plays or doesn’t play. So everyone’s been used to that for their career, but I think getting them all together, in camp, in practice, they’re all going to benefit from each other.”
Embiid has played a combined 96 regular-season games over the past three seasons. The big man has not played in more than 40 games since the 2022-23 campaign, his MVP season.
Gansey said the 76ers will decide the best course of action for Embiid once the 2026-27 schedule is released next week in terms of back-to-backs.
“We’ll sit down, talk to him, talk to performance staff, talk to Nick and try to figure out a plan,” Gansey said. “These guys want to play every game, but we got to map it out and see what’s best for him and the team.”
The 76ers have never advanced past the second round of the playoffs in the Embiid era. That will likely change next season.
