Eye-Popping Joel Embiid Stat Emerges After Performance vs. Pistons

Over the past three seasons, Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid has been among the top scorers in the league. His latest outing has him surpassing a handful of the top centers from the past two decades.

Through the first quarter of the season, a major takeaway of Embiid's play has been his improved playmaking. He continues to put up big scoring numbers but is also dishing out a career-high 6.4 assists per game. With Embiid improving this once weak point of his game, the reigning MVP is now arguably one of the top all-around performers in the NBA today.

On Wednesday night, Embiid and the Sixers faced off against a struggling Detroit Pistons team. They were able to come away with a convincing win, in large part due to the play of Embiid. In just 31 minutes of action, the All-Star center posted a stat line of 41 points, 11 rebounds, five assists, and two steals.

This performance marked the 18th time in Embiid's career that he notched at least 40 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists. That is more than Nikola Jokic, Shaquille O'Neal, and DeMarcus Cousins have combined in their careers.

Most 40/10/5 games by a center since 2000:

18 — Joel Embiid
17 — Jokic, Shaq, Boogie combined https://t.co/wyWqdz4vtq
— StatMuse (@statmuse) December 14, 2023

This is an impressive feat, considering Jokic and Shaq are former MVP winners and two of the top centers to ever step foot in the NBA. At his peak, Cousins was also an All-Star big man who put up stellar numbers for the Sacramento Kings and New Orleans Pelicans.

Through his first 20 games this season, Wednesday marked the third time Embiid broke the 40/10/5 threshold. His top performance came last week when he erupted for a season-high 50 points, along with 13 rebounds and seven assists in a win over the Washington Wizards.