Joel Embiid is in a class of his own at the moment. On Monday, he signed a five-year $148 million contract extension which will allow him to remain a member of the Philadelphia 76ers past what would have been a possible restricted free agent date, but the kicker is, he has yet to play a full NBA season since being drafted.
The Sixers big man showed his promising prowess last season before tearing a meniscus in his left knee, sidelining him for the remainder of the season. He was officially eliminated from the Rookie of the Year award which he would have otherwise won had he been able to remain on the court.
Since Joel Embiid has been injured the past three seasons and has only participated in a total of 31 games since entering the NBA, his new contract has a clause which takes it all into consideration.
According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski and Bobby Marks, the Sixers have protected themselves by adding a provision which allows the team to waive Embiid if he doesn't live up to his contract extension by missing more than 25 games over the life of the deal.
Although Embiid was ecstatic about signing the new deal, the burden is on him to perform or possibly find himself missing a large chunk of the contract due to injuries.
Across each of the final four seasons of the extension, ending with the 2022-23 season, the 76ers could waive Embiid for a financial benefit if he’s lost because of a contractually agreed upon injury that causes him to miss 25 or more regular-season games and if he plays less than 1,650 minutes, league sources said.
Specific injuries are laid out in the contract and only include past problem areas with Embiid’s feet and back, sources said. Embiid has to miss 25 or more regular-season games because of injuries in those areas, and play less than 1,650 minutes, for Philadelphia to have the option of releasing him for cost savings…
If Embiid meets that narrow criteria and the Sixers decided to waive him after the 2018-19 season, he would receive $84.2 million of his full contract; $98.2 million after the 2019-20 season; $113.3 million after the 2020-21 season and $129.4 million after the 2021-22 season.
Embiid must play a total of 1,650 minutes within three consecutive seasons to receive the entire contract amount, and the waiver provision will go away.
This doesn't mean the Sixers will shove their center on the court and not monitor him, but in fact, will likely remain cautious and delegate a number of minutes and games he can play in this season.
If there are any Sixers fans worried, they shouldn't be. The goal is realistic enough for Embiid to accomplish, and while he received a max contract, he most likely won't achieve the criteria needed to a supermax deal, which is either NBA MVP or First Team All-NBA.
The contract allows the Sixers to protect themselves while holding on to their 7-foot big man barring anything catastrophic.
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