Joel Embiid’s basketball career may already be on the back nine.
While speaking on SiriusXM -Radio, Keith Pompey speculated from the Inquirer of Philadelphia that the former MVP can be forced to an early retirement thanks to nagging injuries in his knees and back.
“I think Joel may know that the end is close,” Pompey said. “It’s a bit like explaining people what he has undergone. Because you rarely have a man, you tell how much pain and how much they continue … I feel that Joel Embiid knows that, it may not be this season, but the end is close. Maybe he can’t play that at the level he used.”
Pompeius added a qualification that he could be wrong and that Embiid could have an MVP season, but it is rare that a player openly breaks down his body.
Embiide, 31, recently participated in a position with ESPNAs noted by Pompey, focus on injuries, play through pain and the following fighting for mental health.
He told the outlet that the increasing injuries had forced him to ask questions.
“Every year you start asking yourself questions such as:” Why? “” Said Embiid, referring to injured by important moments of his NBA career.
Embiid adds that frustration is also leaked in his mental health.
“I don’t know if I can do it again … I can’t do another minute,” added Embiid when I was talking about late-night treatment sessions.
At various points, 76’s medical staff had to attract Embiid to play in Games Pregame, even in 2024 when he couldn’t jump during a pregame warm-up against the Pacers.
“Feeding in the pressure of you has to play, should not go outside, cannot abandon … That is probably one of the reasons why I am in this position now,” Embiid added.
Later that season, the 76ers faced the Knicks and lost one series in six games during one round, and he described how he felt in that game 6.
“I knew that I only had about two quarters … my body was just,” no, that’s it. “
The 76ers franchise is usually built around Embiid at the moment, although he statistically took a big step back in the 19 games he could play.
Embiid was on average 23.8 points per match, 8.2 rebounds and 4.5 assists in 2024-25, dramatic down of the impressive 34.7 points, 11 rebounds and 5.6 assists that he on average in just 39 games the year before.
Embiid played in just 452 regular seasonal matches of a possible 880 since he was drawn up in 2014.
The star of the 76ers owes $ 193 million in the next three years, including a player option for the 2028-29 season.
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