Joel Embiid is embracing his new reality and a potentially new role for the Sixers

Keith Pompey, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Oct 21, 2025

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PHILADELPHIA — Joel Embiid sat in front of reporters at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Friday night and shared his new definition of success. And for the 76ers star, that thought process isn’t necessarily measured by offensive output.

He preached teamwork after earning seven consecutive All-Star berths, two straight scoring titles and the 2023 Most Valuable Player award. Yet, in true Embiid fashion, the 31-year-old also acknowledged that he’s aware of some narratives about him, about the belief that he is no longer a dominant force.

“I’m here to help,” Embiid said after he finished with 14 points, seven rebounds, eight assists and three steals in a 126-110 preseason victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves. “According to a lot of your peers [in the media], I’m not even a top-100 basketball player in the league. So I guess I’ve just got to fit in and see where I can help the team win basketball games.

“So, if that’s playing defense and stretching the floor, that’s what I’m going to do.”

Embiid was referring to The Ringer excluding him from its top-100 list that was released Wednesday. While that might be a head-scratching omission, he is perceived differently heading into this season because of a nagging left knee injury that limited him to 19 games last season.

ESPN ranks him 47th in its ranking of the NBA’s top 100 players, which is a significant drop from the previous year’s No. 8 ranking. SI.com ranks him 17th, USA Today 19th, For The Win 21st, Hoopshype 23rd and Bleacher Report 26th.

The consensus is that when healthy, Embiid is a top-10 player. However, the rankings reflect concerns about his left knee surgery in April, his second in 14 months and third in nine years, and the fact that he was limited to 58 games over the last two seasons.

But in September, Embiid said he felt good.

“I think we made a lot of progress over the last couple of months,” he said. “We got a plan in place. Try to check off all the boxes, so just taking it day by day. This is still kind of like a feel period where we’re just taking it day by day.”

That approach is the reason that even with his healthy status, the Sixers have yet to determine Embiid’s availability for the season opener Wednesday against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden. It’s also tied to the team’s uncertainty about when Embiid will suit up or rest this season.

“I want to be as honest as possible,” Embiid said. “I think going forward, I’m just going to listen to the body. I’ll be honest and say it’s going to be unpredictable at times, and that’s OK. We’ve got to work with that. We’ve got to take it day by day and go from there. The only thing I’m focused on is that every time we’re on the right path, keep going.

“If there’s something that happens in that time, it’s OK. Just focus on fixing it and keep going. That’s my mentality.”

The goal is to remain healthy for the postseason, where he’ll need to play at a high level for the Sixers to sustain success.

Right now, it’s OK for Embiid to be a pass-first big man anchored at the elbow or on the perimeter. As we saw Friday and in an intrasquad scrimmage on Oct. 12, his presence makes things easier for teammates. He routinely finds them on cuts to the basket and delivers open layup opportunities as they streak up the court.

Embiid also has adapted well to playing power forward in a twin tower lineup with reserve center Adem Bona. The Sixers have high-percentage scoring plays in which Embiid receives the ball at the elbow and dishes to Bona under the basket.

But as well as Embiid has played, the pace was incredibly different when he wasn’t in the game. The Sixers pushed the ball much harder, and it’s fair to wonder if that’s going to improve while he’s on the floor.

And unlike in seasons past, the standout center rarely rolled to the basket. Will that change over time when he becomes more comfortable? Or is this his new way of playing after the knee surgeries? Time may provide an answer as we watch Embiid play.

But for now, he sounds content with this new role.

“We got a bunch of athletes,” Embiid said. “We’ve got to release them. … They’ve got to run. My job is to find them and, in a way, that also kind of saves me, because if we get early baskets and easy baskets, I won’t have to run up and down. I can just let those guys push the pace, attack. And if we don’t have anything, I’ve always trailed anyway in my career. Then I can come in and get into the offense.”