Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers took care of business on Monday afternoon against the Houston Rockets. The reigning NBA MVP went for 41 points and 10 rebounds in 31 minutes of work as Philly picked up a 124-115 win.
It was Embiid’s first game since Jan. 5, as he’s been dealing with a lingering knee injury. So far, Embiid has missed 10 games during the 2023-24 campaign, which presents a bit of a problem: The NBA, in its push to keep teams from resting guys during the regular season, instituted new games played requirements that players need to hit to be eligible for awards. MVP is one of those awards, and Embiid can only miss seven more games between now and the end of the regular season to be eligible to defend his title — the minimum number of games played, with a few exceptions, is 65.
When asked about this on the heels of Monday’s win, Embiid said that the plan is to do what he has to do to remain healthy, and if that costs him a chance to go back-to-back, he’s fine with it.
Joel Embiid says the 65 game threshold for awards will not have any impact on health decisions this season, the goal is all about the playoffs.
“No. I’ve already done it…one thing we’re not going to do is push for it to try to make the requirement” pic.twitter.com/AfpXjWYs5R
— PHLY Sixers (@PHLY_Sixers) January 15, 2024
“No, I’ve already done it,” Embiid said. “I’ve always said, I wanted … if I have a chance to get a second one, I’ll do it. But I’m not gonna force myself or push for it. My game is always gonna speak for itself. We’re winning, that’s the main thing. We gotta keep winning, and obviously, you put the stats out to be in the conversation, that’s great, too. That’s great.
“But at the end of the day, if there’s something going on and I can’t meet the requirement for the amount of games played to qualify for that, then so be it,” Embiid continued. “But one thing we’re not gonna do is push for it to try and make the requirement. If I’m healthy enough and these guys are letting me play, then I’ll play. But if they tell me you gotta chill, then I’ll chill.”
Embiid is in the midst of the best season of his career, as he’s been as efficient as ever, is playing great defense, and entered Monday averaging more points (34.6) than minutes (34.1) per game. But of course, the big issue over the course of his career hasn’t been regular season excellence, it’s been the fact that he hasn’t gotten past the Eastern Conference Semifinals in large part due to his inability to remain healthy once the postseason rolls around.
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