Sixers star Joel Embiid ranked No. 23 in the league before new season

[ASFN Admin]

As the Philadelphia 76ers head into the new season, the focus will be on getting healthy. If the Sixers can enter the new season with a healthy trio of Joel Embiid, Paul George, and Tyrese Maxey, then they will have a chance to beat anybody in what should be a wide-open East.

Embiid, especially, will have a lot of eyes on him as he looks to bounce back from a nightmarish 2024-25 season. The big fella played in a grand total of 19 games as he was limited by a bothersome left knee issue and he underwent surgery in April as he continues to work his way back for the upcoming season.

HoopsHype ranked the top 100 players in the NBA heading into the new season with Embiid coming in with the No. 23 ranking:

Former league MVP Joel Embiid’s place in this ranking comes down to one thing: his porous health luck.

After suiting up for Team USA in the 2024 Olympics and playing a large part in the Americans beating Serbia in the semifinal, Embiid’s knees stopped cooperating and the star big man was only able to suit up for 19 games in 2024-25. And that was after Embiid had only played in 39 games in 2023-24, giving us major concern about how his body will hold up this upcoming season, hence, his place on this ranking.

If Embiid can get back to relatively good health, he’ll easily outplay his spot on this list, as even as recently as 2023-24, he was putting up 34, 11 and six per night, historically good numbers.

We’re just not confident he’ll find that level of health anytime soon.

If Embiid can return somewhat healthy--even if it's just 80% of what he used to be--then the Sixers will be in a great spot for the upcoming season. The East figures to be wide-open with Boston and Indiana missing stars and the Sixers have a great chance to finally get over the hump and push into the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 2001.

This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: Sixers star Joel Embiid ranked No. 23 in the league before new season

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