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The Philadelphia 76ers are preparing for their fifth playoff run in a row. They will host the Toronto Raptors Saturday night in Game 1 of the first round of the 2022 NBA Playoffs.
Ahead of Game 1, Joel Embiid, who has led the team to all five of their recent playoff runs, spoke with the media. During his press appearance, the Sixers big man said that playing as much as possible is beneficial for him, and he prefers that over load management.
Sixers reporter Derek Bodner tweeted Embiid's shocking truth bomb Thursday afternoon.
Embiid, on his availability this year: "The more I play, the better it gets because if I'm playing every two days that means I don't get out of shape, I keep continuing what I've been doing and I stayed healthier."
"Looking back at it, I don't agree with load management."
— Derek Bodner (@DerekBodnerNBA) April 14, 2022
Load management is typically reserved for larger, taller players, very much like the build of Joel Embiid. At 7 feet, 280lbs and playing roughly 35 minutes each game, Embiid's body reacts differently to the physicality of an NBA game than a 6'5″ bench player that plays 18 minutes.
Despite being a prime candidate for the tactic, in hindsight, Embiid “doesn't agree with load management.”
This is a great thing for both Embiid and the Sixers. The team can get the most out of their star player in as many games as possible. Meanwhile, Embiid has more opportunities to help out his team and strengthen his case for the 2021 regular-season MVP title.
In the Sixers' 82 regular-season games, Embiid started in 68 of them. Of the 14 games he missed, nine were because of his battle with COVID-19 in November of 2021. By his logic, Embiid is the best that he's been all season and he's prepared to lead his team to a Saturday night win against the Raptors.
