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Joel Embiid hints he’s ready to leave Philadelphia in order to win NBA title
Of course Joel Embiid wants to take home an NBA championship.
But as of right now, it seems like he’s prepared to part ways with the Philadelphia 76ers in order to do that.
The current league MVP and Maverick Carter spoke on Thursday at the Uninterrupted Sports Film Festival in Los Angeles. The fαct that Embiid isn’t planning to end his career in Philadelphia if he can’t win a championship there was made abundantly obvious in a clip from that occasion that went viral on social media on Monday.
Embiid stated, “I simply wanna win a championship, whatever it takes. “I have no idea where it will be, whether it will be in Philadelphia or somewhere else. I just want a chance to succeed; I want to experience what it’s like to win the first contest before thinking about the next one. It’s not simple. One, two, or three males are not enough. You need to surround yourself with good people, and I work hard every day to get that level so I can make it happen.
It’s simple to see how Embiid may be angry with the 76ers. The 29-year-old won his first MVP award last season while averaging a career-high 33.1 points, 10.2 rebounds, and 4.2 assists. The six-time All-Star led the NBA in scoring for the second straight season while shooting nearly 55% from the field.
But the 76ers haven’t advanced past the Eastern Conference quarterfinals since Embiid made his debut in 2016. At that point in the playoffs, they had lost five times in the previous six seasons, and the team hadn’t made it to the NBA Finals since 2001.
Following their 4-3 semifinal loss to the Boston Celtics, the Philadelphia 76ers decided to remove coach Doc Rivers and replace him with former Toronto Raptors coach Nick Nurse. After the Raptors missed the playoffs, Nurse, a former Coach of the Year who guided Toronto to its one and only NBA championship, was sacked.
Through the 2026–2027 season, Embiid extended his contract with the organization for a total of four years and $213 million. He will receive more than $53 million annually on average from that contract.
Even though it would take a lot to move Embiid in that deal, it’s possible that his biggest teammate is also considering leaving Philadelphia. This summer, James Harden exercised his player option with the franchise and declared his desire to be transferred, allegedly to the Los Angeles Clippers.
While Embiid’s future in Philadelphia is not at all dependent on Harden’s ambitions, it is difficult to picture Embiid contently staying put if the 76ers are unable to find a strong core to complement Embiid in Harden’s absence.
Additionally, Embiid’s remarks about playing somewhere before he retires are certain to become much less subtly stated than they were on Thursday night if the club is unable to reach the NBA Finals, let alone the Eastern Conference finals, in the near future.