Is This Joel Embiid’s Best Chance to Finally Win a Championship?

Joel Embiid is undoubtedly a 76ers Legend. In the sports world as a whole nowadays the term "Legend" is defined by stats, accolades, and leadership. One big thing when it comes to "Legends" that people use in debate or even just normal conversation to consider someone a legend is if they won on the biggest stage of them all. Has this "Legend" won a championship, most of the time is what they think or say. Joel Embiid has the stats, he averaged 27.6 points, 10.8 total rebounds, 3.7 assists, 0.9 steals, and 1.6 blocks, on 50% shooting. Some people put these numbers up on a mvp season, let alone Joel Embiid averaging those stats already. He has the accolades there's just been one problem for him, injuries. Over the past seasons Joel has had with the team he has always been the #1 option until I'd say last year when Maxey really took over as the #1 guy on the team. It's truly hard when the guy who is supposed to be your number #1 is getting injured and then come playoff time he isn't as his fullest due to those injuries.

Traveling back a little bit now, the process with Joel Embiid has never made it past the 2nd round, part of the issue like I stated stems from Joel Embiid's injuries. That aside what are the other reasons they haven't made it over the hump? Going back now to 2018 the 76ers beat the Goran Dragic & Hassan Whiteside led heat team in 5 games, then went up against the Boston Celtics team that had Tatum, Brown, Horford, Smart, and Rozier. This was just a skill matchup with the celtics just overall having the better team. Beating the 76ers in just 5 games. Moving onto 2019 the 76ers had to face D'Angelo Russell's Brooklyn Nets squad which just didn't have the experience and lost to the 76ers in just 5 games. Now we move onto the conference semifinals, where the 76ers had to deal with the most unlucky shot of all time or as some would just call as "The Shot" where it had looked like the 76ers best shot at a championship and Joel Embiid's best roster as of yet has just been ended by Kawhi Leonard's raptors which eventually won the finals.

Now into 2020 which was a funky year of course due to COVID, the 76ers got swept by the Celtics in the 1st round of the playoffs. In 2021, the 76ers faced the Westbrook and Beal led Wizards which they beat in 5 games. Then the 76ers had one of the most disappointing moments in their history where they lost to Trae Young's Atlanta Hawks in 7 games which part of the problem was that Ben Simmons passed instead of taking a wide open dunk. 2022 came around and the 76ers beat the Raptors in a 6 game series, and then lost to Jimmy Butler's Miami Heat in a 6 game series. In 2023 the 76ers swept Mikal Bridges Nets and then lost to the Celtics in 7 games. The 76ers faced the knicks in 2025 and lost in the 1st round in 6 games. In 2025, the 76ers didn't have a good enough record and actually missed the playoffs for the first time in 7 years. Lastly 2026 came around and the 76ers had to face the Celtics once again in the playoffs, where they actually beat Boston in a 7 game series, but got swept by the Knicks who went onto win the finals.

Throughout this time there's been a ton of disappointment in the playoffs, between Ben Simmons not playing up to standards, or when it mattered the most guys like James Harden and Tobias Harris not living up to their contracts. This all happens while Joel faces a ton of injuries throughout this time, and the organization chooses paying Tobias Harris over Jimmy Butler which was incredibly questionable. Now moving onto the new NBA season, Joel Embiid finds himself on a team where you could make the case he's the 3rd or 4th option instead of him being 1st or 2nd and that he doesn't have to be healthy al the time for them to win games. This means he's able to take a step back and evaluate the situation while stating maybe I should sit out some games so I'm healthy for the playoffs. Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, Jaylen Brown, and Lebron James is more than enough to be said to win games even without Joel. Another thing to keep in mind is the 76ers never have had a "unbelievable" bench. This new defined bench by Mike Gansey being Anfernee Simons, Labaron Philon Jr, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Justin Edwards, Dean Wade and their choice of Dominick Barlow, Ariel Hukporti, or Adem Bona. Even guys like Caleb Love, Rayan Rupert, or Tacko Fall could even make the team.

Joel Embiid has never had a roster like this before. He's never had two finals MVPs on his team especially not at the same time which are both great two way players and can make shots when needed in the clutch. He's never been able to let the other guys do it all without him, and now if he's healthy and he's the 3rd or 4th option this is what makes this team scary to deal with. Let's not forget VJ as a 5th option is probably the greatest 5th option a team has ever had. That is why Joel Embiid has his best chance to win it all and make the city of Philadelphia proud.

Photo Credits: Clutchpoints