Tyrese Maxey says having a healthy Joel Embiid “changes everything” for the Sixers. The Philadelphia guard said so on Thursday.
Health has never come easily for Embiid. Across a 10-year career he has never played a full 82 games and has topped 60 games just four times. He has averaged only 49 games a season, and that doesn’t count the two seasons he missed entirely with injury at the start.
Last season he played just 38 games, double his total from 2024, while dealing with right hip complications, left knee management and appendicitis, per ESPN.
“You can put in more packages,” Maxey said. “There’s been times where he hasn’t been healthy and we get into the game and now we’re trying to learn on the flow.”
Maxey says experience gives him the advantage here. After six years alongside Embiid, he knows where Embiid likes to catch the ball, where he wants guards to cut and plenty of other tendencies. Many of the Sixers’ new faces, LeBron James and Jaylen Brown most notably, don’t have that luxury.
“If you haven’t been playing with a big like Joel, there’s not many. It’s very hard, very difficult to learn certain things,” he said. “…So, with him being here, we can drill those things over and over. It’s been what, like two, three weeks that we’ve had just drilling and drilling. That’s a good thing.”
This year is different. Embiid was healthy for training camp and the preseason, which should make the transition easier.
“I think, obviously, [my knee] was the biggest concern, and I’m not thinking about it,” he said. “And as long as we keep doing what we’ve been doing, I won’t have to think about it anymore.
