Game 5 vs. Celtics Shows Why Sixers Can't Move On From Joel Embiid Yet

Whenever the Sixers' season ends, questions will inevitably bubble up about Joel Embiid's future in Philadelphia. That's a complicated conversation.

Embiid is just about to begin a three-year max extension that's currently projected to be worth nearly $187.9 million. Thanks to the NBA's new second apron and apron rules, teams have largely been treating big-money, long-term contracts like they're radioactive.

Despite his upside, Embiid likely has negative trade value because of his lengthy injury history. If the Sixers can't find a team that's willing to give up something of real value for Embiid, they'll have to live with the downside of his constant availability concerns.

But his performance in Game 5 against the Boston Celtics on Tuesday was a stark reminder of why his upside still justifies patience, even after perhaps the strangest malady yet.

If not for Embiid, the Sixers' season would already be over.

Embiid's triumphant return

Less than three weeks removed from an appendectomy, Embiid scored a game-high 33 points on 12-of-23 shooting to go with eight assists, four rebounds and one block in 39 minutes against Boston on Tuesday. His three-point shot wasn't falling early on, so he instead decided to pound the ball inside against the Celtics' overmatched frontcourt.

The Sixers' offense got bogged down at times in Game 5, but nowhere close to the extent that it was earlier in the series while Embiid was sidelined. He's one of the main fulcrums of their entire office.

If the Celtics aren't sending extra help at Embiid and let him go one-on-one with either Neemias Queta or Nikola Vučević, those two stand little chance of stopping him. If they do send extra help at him, he's become a much better passer over the years, in large part because of how the Celtics used to torment him.

No other current Sixers player has anywhere close to that type of offensive gravity.

Teams like the Celtics change up their defensive scheme on him throughout the game—if not on a play-by-play basis—to keep him guessing. What they tried Tuesday worked at first, as they used a deep drop defense to goad him into taking three-pointers.

But after a handful of misses, Embiid decided to force the issue inside. Queta and Vučević were no match for him.

"I think it gave us a ton of confidence," head coach Nick Nurse said after the game. "We talked about it at one of the timeouts. 'Listen, we gotta go through Jo in the post, 'cause now they're starting to send people. From here on out, somebody should get an open look if we make the right decisions.' I think that gives the team a lot of confidence knowing there's something you can go to."

Although Maxey took an All-NBA leap this season, he still isn't the same type of ceiling-raiser as Embiid. When the big fella has it going, it creates positive downstream effects for the rest of the team, too.

What's next for Embiid and the Sixers?

Embiid has played 96 regular-season games over the past three years. Across his 12-year NBA career, he has yet to play more than 68 games in a season.

The Sixers should go into every year assuming he's going to miss at least 15-20 games at a minimum. They need to better insulate themselves against his absences, although that's easier said than done.

Maxey spent this past offseason training to be a No. 1 option for those games which Embiid misses, which is a start. Paul George and VJ Edgecombe are capable of scaling up whenever Embiid is out, too.

The Sixers figure to spend the offseason hunting for an upgrade over Andre Drummond and/or Adem Bona at backup center. Drummond is about to become an unrestricted free agent, so there's no guarantee that he's back in Philadelphia next year regardless.

Embiid's inconsistent availability on a game-to-game basis is undoubtedly frustrating at times. Counting on him to stay healthy throughout a full 82-game season and deep playoff run is a fool's errand at this point. The Sixers need to continue figuring out ways to win without him, which they were far better at this season than last year.

But they are still a far better team with Joel Embiid than they are without him. Frustration about his lengthy injury history cannot cloud that reality.

Even if the Sixers could get off his contract this offseason, the return they receive would likely be nowhere near commensurate with the value he provides them when healthy. They'd be lucky to get even neutral value for him.

For better or worse, the Sixers and Embiid figure to stay together for at least one more season. His performance in Game 5 was a reminder of the highs he can still provide.

Sign up for our free newsletter and follow us on X and Bluesky for the latest news.

Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac and salary-cap information via RealGM.

Follow Bryan on Bluesky.

Add us as a preferred source on Google