Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Report: Embiid signs huge contract
Sixers, star center agree to five-year extension that could max out as high as $178 million
PHILADELPHIA » For the 76ers, a process that had been requiring mostly trust has become a commitment requiring $148 million.
Joel Embiid, who has played 31 total games in his four-year NBA career, will sign a five-year extension to his rookie contract, according to ESPN. With incentives, the deal could be worth as much as $178 million. The Sixers had until Oct. 16 to extend the contract or allow Embiid to play this season and then become a free agent.
Sixers president Bryan Colangelo has said recently, on multiple occasions, that it was the Sixers’ intent to extend Embiid, who missed his first two seasons with fractures in his feet and whose third season ended early when he tore the meniscus in his left knee.
Embiid, 23, was not cleared to play five-on-five basketball until last week. He has yet to play in any of the Sixers’ three preseason games. He had denied whispers that he had been slow to return because he was waiting until the contract extension.
“Some people put out reports to create controversy,” Embiid said at the start of training camp. “Someone was telling me that I am holding out because of contract negotiations. At the end of the day, I have no leverage. It’s my fourth season, then I can become a free agent. They can do what they want. If it happens, it happens.”
It happened, and in a big way, with Embiid about to receive the maximum extension. But according to the ESPN report, the contract includes some protection for the Sixers should Embiid continue to be too injured to play.
When he played last season, Embiid was special, averaging 20.2 points and 7.8 rebounds. He was equally effective as a three-point shooter and a defensive stopper. He will be deeply compensated with additional pay if he makes the AllNBA first, second or third team or becomes the league’s MVP or Defensive Player of the Year, according to the report.
Embiid will make $6.1 million this season. But over the next five years, he will be paid an average of $29.6 million annually. Steph Curry, the league’s highest-paid player will earn $34.7 million this season.
The Sixers have said that they preparing to have Embiid available by their Oct. 18 regular-season opener in Washington. Recently leaked video of Embiid jogging through the streets of Philadelphia and playing tennis suggested that he is physically ready.
Before training camp, however, Embiid said, “to be honest, I don’t think I’ll play all 82 games.”
Whenever Embiid does play, Brett Brown expects him to contribute heavily.
“I will tell everyone that it is moving in a real positive direction,” the head coach said, “in the times that I have seen him lately.”
Brown did not address the Embiid contract with reporters in Monday in Boston, where the Sixers played their third preseason game. But on the NBC Sports Philadelphia pregame show, he said Embiid is, “a difference maker.”
“I have been lucky in my Spurs (assistant coach) life to anoint others in that category,” he added. “So I don’t give up that tag freely. He has a chance to be great. There is still lots of work to be done. But when you look at his body of work and realize that he has played only 31 games and has only played basketball for six years and that he is 23, he is just scratching the surface.”
The Sixers have not officially announced the extension. All along, however, Colangelo has been “cautiously optimistic” that it would happen.
“The process never ends,” he said. “Everything is a process. Team-building is a process. We are moving forward as an organization. What happened in the past is in the past and we are looking forward to a positive season.” Embiid agrees. “We are so young,” he said. “We have to learn how to play with each other and find the right system. We have a lot of potential, but the key is to stay healthy.”
Embiid, whose only college season at Kansas ended prematurely with back soreness, is the key to that plan.
“I want to be in the best shape possible,” he said. “And I am not yet at that level. I love critics. It just makes me better. I love people saying I can’t do this. I can do this. I am excited and we are going to see a lot of good things this year.”