Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid has played one game thus far in the 2024-25 NBA season. On the latest Hoop Collective episode with Brian Windhorst, Tim McMahon, and Tim Bontemps of ESPN, the reporters discussed Embiid's latest comments on how his recovery is going and tried to decipher what exactly Embiid meant. McMahon referenced something Embiid had told Bontemps about his level of trust in his body.

“It’s all about confidence and trusting myself, pushing off…I talked about it a couple weeks ago when I talked to you guys, that’s the mental hurdle that I got to get to,” said Embiid. “But I think I can still be pretty good even without that, which I’m going to get to at some point.”

Part of the battle of recovering from an injury is making it back to the court. But it's both a physical and psychological battle to trust your body not to get injured again. NBA head coaches have consistently told me that, health-wise, nobody is going to be at a full 100% throughout the grind of an 82-game season.

The reporters of The Hoop Collective proceeded to speculate and try peeling back the proverbial curtain on Embiid's comments, with Bontemps himself giving an interpretation.

“I think what that quote meant was, ‘I think I could be good in the meantime while I’m getting myself back to where I could be.'”

The 76ers will continue ‘load managing' Joel Embiid this season

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The plethora of injuries affecting the start of the season have been one blow after another for the Sixers. Tyrese Maxey, Paul George, and Embiid have missed a total of 20 games; the team is 11 games into the season. The NBA is reportedly going to investigate Embiid's load management. Through those first 11 games, Philadelphia is 2-9 and in sole possession of 14th place in the Eastern Conference.

The trio of Maxey, George, and Embiid has clearly not been off to a good start. And Embiid might be the player that draws the most ire from Sixers fans over the course of the season. Embiid said himself he lost about “25-30 pounds” this past offseason, giving fans some hope that Embiid might play 70 games in a season for the first time in his career. But the 76ers seem set on continuing his load management as planned.

Whether or not the process will give Embiid the best chance to be healthy by the NBA Playoffs remains to be seen. But one thing is for sure — the Sixers have to make the playoffs first for that to matter.