All-Star center Joel Embiid is reportedly staying with the Philadelphia 76ers after agreeing to a supermax contract with the team. Per Shams Charania of The Athletic and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN, Embiid has agreed to a four-year, $196 million deal that will keep him with the 76ers through the 2026-27 season.
Per reports, the deal guarantees Embiid a total of $261 million because he was already set to make $65 million in the final two seasons under the terms of his current deal.
Last season, Embiid finished second in the Kia MVP voting to Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic. He was signed through the 2022-23 season but was eligible for a “super max” deal that could pay him $191 million from 2023-27. Per Shelburne, the new supermax deal does not contain the same provisions Embiid’s 2017 contract did that protected the 76ers in the case of catastrophic injury to Embiid’s lower back or feet.
He suffered a tear in his right meniscus during the playoffs. He played through the injury and has emerged as Philadelphia’s franchise player.
Embiid was an All-NBA Second Team selection, marking the third All-NBA honor of his career (he was All-NBA Second Team in both 2017-18 and 2018-19) and joining Allen Iverson, Charles Barkley, Julius Erving, Moses Malone, Billy Cunningham, Wilt Chamberlain, Hal Greer and Dolph Schayes as the only Philadelphia players to ever make at least three All-NBA teams.
Embiid appeared in 51 games, ranking fourth in the NBA in scoring at a career-high 28.5 points per game while grabbing 10.6 rebounds per game and shooting 51.3%. He posted 31 double-doubles in 2020-21 in leading the 76ers to the best record in the Eastern Conference (49-23).
Since being selected No. 3 overall by the 76ers in the 2014 Draft, Embiid has been nothing short of extremely reliable after some early injury woes. A native of Cameroon, Embiid sat out his first two seasons with injuries and has never played more than 64 games in a season over his career. He missed games this year with a bone bruise on his left knee.
Embiid tallies 31 points and 11 rebounds in Philadelphia’s Game 7 loss to Atlanta.
However, he has averaged at least 20 ppg in every season and over the past four seasons has posted 25.5 ppg, 11.8 rpg, 3.2 apg and 1.6 bpg while improving as a 3-point shooter each season. In 2020-21, he hit a career-best 37.7% of his 3-pointers.
The 76ers have hardly stood pat in what has been team president Daryl Morey’s first crack at restructuring the roster to his liking. He let free-agent backup center Dwight Howard leave (to sign with the Los Angeles Lakers) and backup guard George Hill do likewise (he signed with the Milwaukee Bucks).
Morey added former All-Star center (and former Embiid rival) Andre Drummond as well as 3-point shooting swingman Georges Niang while also re-signing valuable starter Danny Green and key reserve Furkan Korkmaz. In the Draft, Philadelphia picked up Jaden Springer (No. 28 overall pick), Filip Petrusev (No. 50) and Charles Bassey (No. 53) as well.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
