Joel Embiid OK's five-year, $148M deal with Sixers

[I Hate Mondays]

Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid has agreed to a five-year, $148 million designated rookie scale maximum contract extension, league sources told ESPN.

Is it just me or was this move made prematurely?

[shadowgrin]

It can't be worse than what the Sixers gave Bynum.

[Andrew]

Embiid had some great stats playing limited minutes, but the fact that his season was done after 31 games has to be cause for concern. To put it in perspective, Greg Oden played more minutes through his first two seasons than Embiid has through his first three. After missing what would've been his rookie season, Oden did appear in 61 games for the Trail Blazers in 2009.

The talent is obviously there and obviously they do trust The Process ( ) as far as him staying healthy moving forward, but there has to be concerns about his ability to stay on the court. It's a lot of money to invest in someone who took two years to make their official debut, and then played less than half the season before being shut down.

[big-shot-ROB]

I heard the money is tied to acomplishments such as minutes or games played. It is true the history is not in favour of this move, but you do not want to be the team who let him walk away. Embiid's per 36 minutes stats during those 31 games were of the charts. I am not talking about star level, I am talking about HoF level, top-5 player in the league level.

The guy is a definetely a generational talent, and despite the fact his career could be over in any minute, that could also happen with LeBron or Durant or whoever. Philly are smart, and they are definetely doing what should be done: giving him limited minutes, resting him whenever is needed and focusing on his conditioning and strenght of his knees. Curry had ome similar problems, althought not that severe, and it turned out pretty okay.

Again, good move if money is tied up minutes or games played. Risky move if it isn't, but this was the way to go. At least is not the full escalated max for a rookie.

[Phil89]

http://www.espn.com.au/nba/story/_/id/2 ... hic-injury

For the Sixers to curb the ultimate value of the extension, it would take the triggering of several severe circumstances detailed in a 35-page-plus contract.


Here's how a perfect storm of calamity would have to unfold for Embiid to earn any less than the full $146.5 million: Across each of the final four seasons of the extension, ending with the 2022-23 season, the 76ers could waive Embiid for a financial benefit if he's lost because of a contractually agreed-upon injury that causes him to miss 25 or more regular-season games and if he plays less than 1,650 minutes, league sources said.

Specific injuries are laid out in the contract and include only past problem areas with Embiid's feet and back, sources said. Embiid has to miss 25 or more regular-season games because of injuries in those areas, and play less than 1,650 minutes, for Philadelphia to have the option of releasing him for cost savings.


If Embiid met that narrow criteria and the Sixers decided to waive him after the 2018-19 season, he would receive $84.2 million of his full contract; $98.2 million after the 2019-20 season; $113.3 million after the 2020-21 season; and $129.4 million after the 2021-22 season.

I think both parties would be pretty happy with this deal. Hopefully he stays healthy.

[Sauru]

even if the money is guaranteed i think its ok. sure its a risk but you have to take risks from time to time. if he stays healthy its great, if not then oh well. trust the process i guess

[Andrew]

The guy is a definetely a generational talent, and despite the fact his career could be over in any minute, that could also happen with LeBron or Durant or whoever.

True, there is an inherent risk in any team handing out a big contract to a player, since injuries are a part of the game. Players like LeBron and Durant have proven themselves to be more durable over the course of their career, however. The risk is higher when you're talking about a player who's had problems staying healthy and possibly has a chronic condition/injury. Hopefully, that won't be the case with Embiid moving forward.

[benji]

Is it just me or was this move made prematurely?

No, because there's a time table on extensions, they had to do this now.

The Sixers not only do not have any players except Embiid under contract beyond 2019 but they don't even have to start thinking about how to extend anyone relevant for another year (Simmons and Saric) because I assume they'll let Okafor play the market.

Dropping cash, especially in the beneficial form it is, on a player like Embiid, also has an important signaling purpose to other players. Since they dealt Noel they had to make a commitment like this. He was the only player they could and only player potentially worth it at the same time.

[NovU]

So is this the final product of "Trust the Process" aka Hinkiology?

Years of tanking, penny pinching, and humiliation turned into Simmons/Fultz/Embiid. Are they the real deal to finally go about unlike MCW/Noel/Okafor?

How has the Bucks done differently, they practically are stacked with better young talents than 76ers. They didn't do hardcore tanking either but for briefly that helped landing Jabari Parker.

[Andrew]

Presumably they'll at least have a run for a season or two. I guess you can never tell with the 76ers.

[Jackal]

For Embiid & the league's sake I hope he manages to stay healthy enough to collect the money. But if I'm being honest, I'm not sure he'll be able to. The dude put on way too much weight/muscle in a relatively short period of time, plays way out of character for someone with such a huge body type and his body has told him numerous times that's just not going to cut it.

Either he adapts to a more "traditional" big-man game or he continues to play like a guard in a big man's body and keeps sustaining injuries, big or small.

I really hope he stays healthy, he's got an insane amount of talent and with the big man evolution happening I would very much like to keep watching him down the line. Davis, KAT, Embiid, Drummond (no, I still haven't completely given up on him) & to a lesser extent Cousins & Whiteside should make for some interesting matchups down the line.