Joel Embiid is headed to the Olympics as a member of USA Basketball. Despite being born in Cameroon and eligible to represent France in international play, Embiid made the decision to suit up on the international stage for the United States, which gives the Americans even more ammunition as they head to Paris with their eyes on winning a fifth gold medal in a row.
Doing that would be one of the high points of Embiid’s career, right up there with the time he was named league MVP. Unfortunately, team success hasn’t followed him in his NBA tenure, thanks in large part to horribly timed injuries. In fact, during a recent sit down interview with the New York Times, Embiid expressed his belief that the way injuries have prevented him from becoming a champion has hurt his case for being the greatest player of all time.
“I think so,” Embiid said when asked if he’d be in the GOAT conversation without injury problems. “I think I’m that talented. Obviously you need to win championships, and to win championships you need other guys. You can’t do it by yourself. I want to win so bad. But if you don’t, you just got to understand that as long as you care about the right stuff, if it doesn’t happen, maybe it wasn’t meant to happen. So, yeah — I kind of forgot the question.”
After getting reminded what the question was, Embiid said, “Yeah. If you think about it, the thing that stopped me all these years is just freak injuries. Every single playoffs, regular season, people falling on my knee or breaking my face — twice. It’s always freak injuries at the wrong time.”
Embiid has objectively suffered some absolutely brutal injuries at terrible times during his career, which have played a role in his well-documented playoff roles. He’s famously never made it past the Eastern Conference semis, and he’s gone from averaging 27.9 points per game on 50.4 percent shooting from the field and 34.1 percent shooting from three during the regular season to averaging 24.9 points on 45.9 percent shooting from the field and 28.9 percent shooting from three in the playoffs. At the same time, even beyond injuries and illness, a player of Embiid’s caliber is expected to perform to a higher standard in the postseason, and he just hasn’t been able to consistently do that.
The good news for Embiid is that the Philadelphia 76ers are as well-positioned to compete in the Eastern Conference as they have been during his tenure with the franchise. Between himself, the recently-extended Tyrese Maxey, and prized free agent acquisition, the team has arguably the best big three in the NBA. Whether or not this helps get Embiid into the GOAT conversation should he remain healthy, however, remains to be seen.