As 76ers star Joel Embiid begins a brand new season, questions are beginning to surface regarding his plans for load management and player participation. Apparently, even the NBA itself is launching an investigation into the matter to determine whether the 76ers and their iconic center are in violation of their new participation policy.
“The NBA is likely to begin an investigation later this week into the Philadelphia 76ers surrounding the player participation of All-NBA center Joel Embiid,” wrote Shams Charania on ESPN. “It’s typical for the NBA to review a team anytime a superstar player misses a national television game, as per the player participation policy.”
Joel Embiid, a 1x MVP, was a no-show in Summer League and he’s already slated to miss three games this week due to “left injury management”: tonight’s season opener against the Milwaukee Bucks, Friday against the Toronto Raptors, and Sunday against the Indiana Pacers. After missing out on the MVP last season due to injury, it seems Joel is content with forgoing his candidacy again for the second straight season.
With career averages of 27.9 points, 11.2 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game on 52.9% shooting, Joel Embiid is unquestionably one of the best players in the modern NBA. But after struggling for years with his health and durability, he is one of the many players committed to “load management,” which involves the practice of taking games off when healthy enough to play.
It was an understandable method at first but as the technique became more popular, players and teams began to abuse it to a whole new degree. Believing the trend to be harmful to the fan experience, the NBA recently had to respond to this crisis with a new player participation policy.
The policy is a system designed to limit the number of unexcused absences for nationally televised games. Besides setting a minimum 65-game rule for regular-season awards, it requires teams to seek approval before sitting their stars and every missing player must have a proper reason for not making themselves available. The policy also includes penalties of $1 million or more after three violations.
The rule wasn’t designed to target one player in particular, but guys like Embiid, Kawhi Leonard, and even Stephen Curry might feel the greatest impact from the policy.
At 30 years old and with an extensive injury history, Joel Embiid certainly has a lot to gain from limiting his workload. If he can just play in some of the regular-season games, and avoid difficult points in the schedule, he believes it will extend his career.
Embiid himself said that he plans to avoid back-to-back games for the rest of his career, effectively jeopardizing key regular-season matchups throughout the season.
So far, neither Embiid nor the 76ers have responded to the recent developments but the NBA will not take action until the investigation is finished and they can come to an appropriate ruling.
Either way, for a 76ers team with aspirations of winning it all, this is not the kind of start you’d expect. Now, besides having to deal with the absence of their best player, they’ll also have to deal with a potential punishment from the NBA office.
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