As the Philadelphia 76ers head into the new season, they will be relying on Joel Embiid, Paul George, and Tyrese Maxey to be the star trio they expect them to be in order to seriously contend in the East. The Sixers will also hope their new, younger supporting cast can step up and help in that regard.
Embiid, especially, will have a lot of eyes on him as he continues to recover from left knee surgery in April. The 2023 MVP winner played only 19 games in the 2024-25 season and looked like a shell of his former self with injuries limiting him in a big way.
When considering his latest performances, the big fella has dropped in the center rankings and he is ranked as the No. 5 center in the league per HoopsHype:
Former league MVP Joel Embiid’s place in this ranking comes down to one thing: his porous health luck.
After suiting up for Team USA in the 2024 Olympics and playing a large part in the Americans beating Serbia in the semifinal, Embiid’s knees stopped cooperating and the star big man was only able to suit up for 19 games in 2024-25. And that was after Embiid had only played in 39 games in 2023-24, giving us major concern about how his body will hold up this upcoming season, hence, his place on this ranking.
If Embiid can return anywhere near to his former self, then the Sixers will be in a much better spot and the big fella will be higher on these types of lists. As for right now, it’s just hard to anticipate what he will look like when he returns to the floor.