Embiid, Maxey and George enter season richer, and expectations are higher for Philadelphia 76ers
Joel Embiid won a gold medal this summer and lost about 30 pounds.
Tyrese Maxey signed a $204 million contract extension and the All-Star guard wrote down the night before the 76ers left for training camp all the goals he set for this season.
Paul George cradled his young son on his lap — little Paul is about to join the Big Three in October (as in turning 3 years old) months after dad left Los Angeles to form a Big Three with Embiid and Maxey in Philadelphia.
Star power is strong in Philly.
Expectations? Through the roof of the Wells Fargo Center that the franchise is desperately trying to escape in 2031 — perhaps by then with a championship banner or two hanging in the rafters.
This is the season — again, the 76ers insist — that Embiid can lead the Sixers to ... a championship? Perhaps. But a good start would just be advancing out of the second round of the playoffs. Philadelphia has not won an NBA title since 1983 or even won the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs since Allen Iverson and the late Dikembe Mutombo led them to the NBA Finals in 2001.
To borrow a phrase from Phillies owner John Middleton, the 76ers spent "stupid money" this summer to keep Embiid and Maxey for years to come and added George to the mix.
The 76ers committed more than $400 million in salary to Maxey and George early in free agency and then signed Embiid to a $193 million extension shortly before the team opened training camp this week in the Bahamas.
No wonder the talented trio was all smiles during the team's annual media day at its New Jersey complex.
Coach Nick Nurse is set to enter his second season without any of the drama that enveloped camp in Colorado last year when James Harden's contract dispute threatened to derail the start of the season. Harden was eventually traded, but the black cloud never truly lifted — not when Embiid missed a chunk of the season with injuries that caused more headaches than any locker room issues ever could in Philadelphia.
Can the feel-good vibes of October finally lead to something to feel good about in May and beyond?
Embiid revealed he dropped about 25 to 30 pounds over the summer. Perhaps it was all that basketball he played for Team USA when he helped it win a gold medal at the Paris Olympics.
Embiid, who dropped a franchise-record 70 points last season against San Antonio, was pleased his lobbying efforts to recruit George in free agency paid off.
"We got a lot of new guys, so I think it's important to just be around and make sure everyone understands each other," Embiid said Monday.
Already an NBA MVP and a seven-time All-Star, Embiid said his main focus this season isn't trying to win more individual awards. The 7-foot center wants to stay healthy for an entire playoff run, which has eluded him. And, Embiid knows with Maxey a rising star — he was the NBA's Most Improved Player — and George on board, he doesn't have to carry the load alone.
The 76ers finished 31-8 in the regular season with Embiid — about a 65-win pace — and a woeful 16-27 without him.
"What I really want to focus on is, empower these guys," Embiid said. "I will do it when I have to. If it means I have to score some points at some point, I'm going to do it. Most of the time I want to focus on, just really let the game come to me. I think in previous years I had to do it because we didn't have necessarily the manpower for me to kind of take that step back and put us in a position to win."
The 23-year-old Maxey joked he was "getting old" as he entered his fifth season with the Sixers as one of the elder statesmen on the team.
Maxey was asked about veteran leadership on the team. Yet, Maxey is the veteran leader — even as he rattled off Kyle Lowry and Reggie Jackson as players the Sixers should lean on — and said one step he made toward that was learning how much he needs to change his game this season if Embiid again is out with injuries.
Maxey, who said he wrote down his season goals before he went to sleep Sunday night, said he struggled with trying to do too much to carry the team when Embiid was hurt.
"I felt like last year was my first year leading the charge and it was difficult," he said.
With money to burn, the 76ers enticed George to leave the Los Angeles Clippers and sign a four-year, $212 million contract.
George is a six-time member of the All-NBA Team. He's a four-time member of the NBA All-Defensive Team and was the league's most improved player in 2013. He was a finalist for both NBA MVP and Defensive Player of the Year in 2019.
Like Embiid and Maxey, George also has never played in an NBA Finals.
He believes Embiid and Maxey can get him there.
"I think this is the first time that I've played with an elite point guard and big man all at once," George said. "For us, it's kind of just countering off each other. Nothing's forced for one person to kind of take that load alone. We've got to share that responsibility. I see us flowing. All of us can kind of play our game within the game."
