Sixers & Joel Embiid Agree On Five Year, $148 Million Dollar Max Extension

The Philadelphia 76ers are going all in with “Trusting The Process” as they have agreed on a massive new contract extension for Joel Embiid that will pay him $148 million dollars over five years. The announcement on Monday took the NBA and twitter by storm as most people were shocked that the Sixers would commit so much money to a player who has only appeared in 31 games over three seasons. Considering how great Embiid’s potential is, the move is still somewhat baffling but there are some protections for the team should the injury bug continue to haunt Embiid.

There are incentives in the deal that could actually bring the total amount of dollars up to $178 million over the five years. Some of those would be if he earns an All-NBA first-, second- or third-team selection, or is named MVP this season, as per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

As you might expect, Embiid was pretty happy when he heard the news.

Sixers coach, Brett Brown, had some extremely high praise for his young star.  “He does things on a court that remind me of, you know, somebody that’s able to hear music and just play the song,” Brown said. “You know, he will study [Tim] Duncan, or study KD, or another player, and all of a sudden it’s a part of his game. He’s very unique, very unique.”

The potential for this deal to be a massive disaster is unfortunately a real possibility. For as much phenomenal potential that Embiid has, if he can’t stay healthy and be on the court, none of that will matter. Most people around the league believe the Sixers should have held off another year before talking long term but the contract shows the belief they have in him and at only 23 years old, still having plenty of great years left as the cornerstone of the franchise.

Salute to Embiid for getting paid and securing the future of his family. As a fan of the league in general, I hope he stays healthy for many years to come so we can really see how good he is.

Written By Joe Casey

Twitter: @IamJoeSports