Philadelphia 76ers star big man Joel Embiid had a miserable 2024-25 season as he limped his way through 19 games dealing with a bothersome left knee. He just clearly wasn’t himself and his teammates certainly noticed throughout a miserable 24-58 season.
Yes, he did average 23.8 points, but that isn’t Embiid numbers. He shot only 44.4% from the floor and 29.9% from deep. His free throw attempts dropped to only 8.9 and he wasn’t the same player. He underwent left knee surgery in April and is expected to be ready for training camp, but the big fella has also said there is not a timeline out there for a recovery.
Embiid’s teammate, All-Star Tyrese Maxey, hopped on “The Deep 3 Podcast” and gave his thoughts on Embiid as a player:
This dude is special. I was talking with my little brother and one of my best friends, and we were just messing around, like, ‘Have you ever seen Joel do a jump hook?’ and he found some clips of him doing a jump hook and he also found clips of him doing step backs and between the legs and hesi pull-ups and I was like ‘This dude’s special, dude.’ Like, I’m just blessed to be a part of some of the best moments of his career, and I can’t wait to see him get back out there.
The Sixers will certainly need a healthy Embiid to have any chance of contending in the East. While Philadelphia has been able to get some more help around the margins, everything this franchise does will depend on whether Embiid will be out there and ready to go.
