"He's trying to play, but his body? His knees? Can't hold up" - Jennings thinks Embiid's best days are behind him

While Tyrese Maxey is unquestionably the leader of the Philadelphia 76ers right now, the fanbase continues to hold out hope that once Joel Embiid improves his health enough to be on the court more consistently, the team can perhaps challenge for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference and even make a deep run in the playoffs.

However, Brandon Jennings wants that optimism to stop. In his view, Joel’s best days are behind him, and the Sixers evidently play at a faster pace without him, which gets affected whenever they try to integrate Embiid into the lineup.

Jennings knows Embiid’s golden days are over

It has never been easy for seven-footers to manage recurring foot, ankle or knee issues, and ever since Embiid started suffering from them and underwent surgery, he has looked far more hesitant to attack the paint or keep up in fast-paced sequences.

After appearing in six of the Philadelphia 76ers’ first nine games of the 2025-26 season, Embiid clearly needed time to rest. As a result, he sidelined himself for the next 10 games before returning to play in two of the team’s recent three contests. And even in those games, Joel looked far from his old self, who operated at an MVP level due to his two-way contributions.

The big man is averaging 18.2 points per game this season while shooting at a career low 40.7 percent from the field and getting to the free-throw line only 5.9 times per contest. Still, considering Embiid has scored 20 or more points in five of the games he has played this season, with a season-high of 29 points in 26 minutes against the Toronto Raptors.

However, for Jennings, that hope is misplaced, as he pointed out, how the Sixers’ backcourt duo forces themselves to play unnaturally just to force Embiid into certain possessions whenever the 2023 MVP is on the court with them.

“Try to move on, man. I mean, I can see that he’s trying to play, but just his body? His knees? It can’t hold up. The way Maxey and VJ are playing, it’s gonna be tough. He just doesn’t fit with their own right now,” Jennings said on an episode of the “Gils Arena Show.” “Just an unfortunate situation for him.”

Embiid needs to fit into a specific role

There is no denying that Embiid is no longer in the MVP tier he once occupied. His knees have simply taken too much damage for him to dominate in the same way or be considered among the best big men in the league today.

So, for Joel, the realistic goal now should be consistency, being available, giving the Sixers close to 20 points per game, and logging around 30 minutes a night. This would allow Maxey and the backcourt to maintain their preferred tempo while Embiid focuses on being efficient in fewer minutes.

Meanwhile, physical interior players like Adem Bona and Andre Drummond can handle the gritty, high-energy work under the rim. So, it does seem safe to say that at this stage, it is all about Embiid recognizing his true value and maximizing it. If he can adjust to this new role and help be the second or third fiddle for the team, the franchise could maybe finally attain success.

This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Dec 10, 2025, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

“He’s trying to play, but his body? His knees? Can’t hold up” – Jennings thinks Embiid’s best days are behind him

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