Joel Embiid finally made his season debut on Tuesday for the Philadelphia 76ers when they hosted the New York Knicks after being held out for load management and serving a three-game suspension for shoving a reporter.
Thanks to him, the 76ers, when healthy, have almost as good a roster as any other team in the NBA, but for all his abilities, Embiid’s resume seems quite empty.
Embiid struggled mightily in the first half of Tuesday’s game, and it led Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal to give some real talk on TNT’s “Inside the NBA” about what it will take for Embiid to finally win an NBA championship.
“Joel Embiid will never win a championship until he gets his mind and his attitude right,” O’Neal said.
“Joel Embiid will never win a championship until he gets his mind and his attitude right” ?
Shaq gives his take on Embiid’s first half performance and his future ?️ pic.twitter.com/GQJHHVPrfK
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) November 13, 2024
Individually, Embiid has gone from a great player to a dominant one over the last few years, and he won the MVP award for the 2022-23 season while averaging over 30 points a game in each of the last three seasons.
However, he has yet to reach the Eastern Conference Finals, and as an organization, the Sixers haven’t gotten there since 2001.
Embiid’s postseason numbers are significantly lower than his regular season numbers, and that is something he absolutely has to rectify if he is to take the Sixers farther than they have gone in recent years.
They signed nine-time All-Star forward Paul George over the summer, giving them three legitimate star players in Embiid, George and guard Tyrese Maxey, to go along with solid supporting players such as Kelly Oubre Jr., Kyle Lowry and Andre Drummond.
But in the end, they will only of as far as Embiid will take them come playoff time.
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76ers Alter Starting Lineup With Latest Injury
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