Joel Embiid Expresses Excitement About Sixers' James Harden Acquisition

Joel Embiid, Daryl Morey, and the Philadelphia 76ers' patience over the last eight months or so will soon pay off. For a good portion of the 2021-2022 NBA season, many believed the Sixers were wasting a year of Embiid's prime by not trading away the Sixers' other multi-time All-Star.

Many wanted the Sixers to settle, but all along, Philly's front office made it clear that they will hold onto Ben Simmons as long as it takes for them to land a top-tier player to pair Joel Embiid up with. Although it was a tough pill to swallow for a while, Embiid once again trusted the Sixers' process.

Now, the superstar big man will reap the benefits as he's set to soon play alongside one of the NBA's most dangerous offensive weapons in James Harden. 

"It's James Harden," said Sixers center Joel Embiid on Friday night following a win over the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Sixers' acquisition of Harden didn't come cheap. While a one-for-one swap would've been ideal, that was never a likely scenario.

The Sixers are taking a big gamble on Harden as they sent Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond, and several draft picks to the Brooklyn Nets to land the ten-time All-Star's services for the rest of the year. And while Embiid's excited, he did acknowledge the downside to the deal.

"Sucks to lose some of my teammates," Embiid added. "Seth (Curry) did such a great job for us the year-and-a-half he was here, (Andre Drummond) was as good as any backups that we've had in Philly since I've been here. So, you know, it sucks to lose him." Embiid will surely miss two teammates he built up a strong chemistry with during a short period of time, but he understands the sacrifice.

"You know, it's James Harden," he continued. "He is one of the best players in the league, MVP. I don't know, I am pretty excited. You know you add someone like that, your chances to win a championship get even bigger. So, I'm just excited to get on with it and try to figure out how to put it all together as a team and go from there."

After Thursday's trade, the Sixers took the floor on Friday night to face the Oklahoma City Thunder at home. The two new acquisitions, Harden and Paul Millsap were not with the team as they have yet to come to Philly to undergo physicals following the trade. Even though Harden hasn't arrived just yet, Embiid mentioned that the two stars spoke already and shared the same excitement.

"I talked to him, just a lot of excitement," Embiid explained. "You talk about guys that I've played with, he's probably going to be the best yet from what he has accomplished in his career so far, so it's just about getting everybody on the same page and finding how everybody plays. We already have a system in place, and we've just gotta bring him along and try to get comfortable. It's a bunch of new stuff, but a bunch of new stuff that he's good at, and then we just put it all together."

When Harden's Sixers debut takes place is unclear at the moment. As the star guard still has to get a physical done and fully recover from hamstring tightness, it could take some time before he gets back out on the floor. Regardless of whenever that is, Joel Embiid is looking forward to getting their duo started.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.