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Joel Embiid Reveals Eyebrow-Raising Goal for the Rest of the Season
Joel Embiid returned to the Philadelphia 76ers lineup on Tuesday night after missing the last month of the season with various injuries. Embiid recorded a triple-double as the Sixers beat the Dallas Mavericks 118-116. Philly went just 4-10 during his latest absence.
So the good news is that Embiid is back. And the even better news is that he feels really good and seems bullish on his availability for the rest of the season. During his postgame press conference, Embiid revealed that he hopes to play every game the rest of the way.
Here's a cut of Joel Embiid's answers when talking about his knee during tonight's postgame presser. We'll have the full press conference up on the @phly_sports YouTube soon.
— Derek Bodner (@DerekBodnerNBA) February 5, 2025
"I wish I could play every game. My goal is to be available and play every game. Whatever God decides… pic.twitter.com/iZD4YbTzqi
"I wish I could play every game," said Embiid. "The goal is to be available and play every game. Whatever God decides, you know, from that point on I can't control it. I can only control what I can do every single day. What I should focus on. What keeps me on the floor. And whatever happens happens. I don't really worry about how many games I'm gonna play. How much I'm going to be available. The goal is to be available every single night. And if God wants it to happen, good. If it doesn't, back to the drawing board."
The most consecutive games Embiid has played in his NBA career appears to be 26 to start the 2018-2019 season. Then during the '21-'22 season he only missed four of the team's last 63 games. Playing 34 straight games to close out the season is unlikely, but hopefully, he can stay healthy and give it a try.
The Sixers are currently one game out of the play-in. If Embiid can stay on the court for most of the rest of the season, they should be in decent shape.
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Stephen Douglas is a senior writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has worked in media since 2008 and now casts a wide net with coverage across all sports. Douglas spent more than a decade with The Big Lead and previously wrote for Uproxx and The Sporting News. He has three children, two degrees and one now unverified Twitter account.