Joel Embiid was eligible for a supermax extension and he’s reportedly going to ink that deal with the Sixers, according to Ramona Shelburne:

Confirmed by other reporters as well.

Embiid made the the All-NBA second team this past season, which is what triggered eligibility for this extension. The deal adds four years to the two remaining on his current deal, and would make him a 76er until 2027.

Here’s a tidbit from Shelburne’s ESPN write up:

This contract is fully guaranteed and includes a player option for the final year, sources said, but does not include the same provisions protecting the Sixers in case of catastrophic injury to Embiid’s lower back or feet, like the five-year, $147.7 million deal he signed in 2017.

Eh, that’s fine. It’s a risk worth taking.


This is how his contract status and cap hit currently looks, with the added years:

  • 2021/2022: $31.5 million (27 years old)
  • 2022/2023: $33.6 million (28 years old)
  • 2023/2024: $42.5 million (29 years old/supermax kicks in)
  • 2024/2025: $46 million (30 years old)
  • 2025/2026: $49.4 million (31 years old)
  • 2026/2027: $52.8 million (32 years old)

It makes a lot of sense for the Sixers, who lock up prime Embiid but are not saddled with a max contract beyond the age of 33. It’s still slightly risky for a seven foot center with injury history, but if you get four good years out of the next six, then the money will be worth it. Even if you get three and compete for a title it will be worth it. This era of Sixers basketball is defined by maxing your best player and then putting the right talent around him. Joel Embiid is the best player to wear a Sixers uniform since Allen Iverson, and so you roll the dice with the injuries and lock this guy up for the foreseeable future, as opposed to.. what? Trading him? Building around somebody else? These kinds of guys don’t come along very often, and you ride them as far they can take you. The NBA is a superstar league, and Embiid is a superstar.