Charles Barkley went off on the Philadelphia 76ers‘ decision of load managing Joel Embiid in the 2024-25 season. Due to Embiid’s injury troubles over recent seasons, the franchise and player decided to load manage him through the regular season by saying he won’t play back-to-backs. Barkley isn’t happy with this decision, citing Embiid’s high salary and the relative insignificance of playing basketball for a living compared to people with real jobs.
“I don’t have any idea what the 76ers are doing. I don’t think it’s fair… He just signed for 3 years, $193 million. To play basketball. We’re not steel workers, we’re not nurses. People who have got real jobs and have to work 40-50 hours a week. We’re playing basketball, at the most, 4 days a week, most of the time 3 days a week.”
“Just say, ‘I’m going to play 25 minutes on the second night of a back-to-back,’ but to come out and say it in advance was a stupidity by the 76ers. Period.”
Embiid played just 39 games last season, forcing himself to play through injuries at the start of the season to keep a push for MVP and scoring champion alive through games played eligibility. After he tore his meniscus in January, he was forcefully ruled out, much to the team’s detriment as they went 31-8 with Embiid in the lineup.
Though Embiid came back later in the season, he was laboring through multiple issues as the 76ers were eliminated in the first round. Despite his appearance for Team USA at the Olympics, he has been ruled out of the start of the 2024-25 season, with many questioning if he’s injured or if this is part of his load management strategy.
The NBA Is Investigating The 76ers Over Embiid’s Load Management
The NBA is investigating the Philadelphia 76ers over Joel Embiid’s participation, according to a report from Shams Charania. Embiid missed the entirety of the 76ers preseason and was not playing in their season opener, a 109-124 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. He’s expected to also miss their two-game road trip against the Toronto Raptors and Indiana Pacers.
The NBA can investigate any team for their roster decisions for national televised games, under the Player Participation Policy. The potential fallout from the investigation is yet to be seen, but will surely set a standard for how the league deals with high-profile players like Embiid with proven injury histories trying to load manage during a season.
According to ESPN, the 76ers have made a plan to deliberately manage Embiid’s workload.
“The 76ers said Embiid is “responding well to his individualized plan” and will ramp up his return-to-play activities this week, including going through scrimmages. This is part of the new normal for Embiid this season, according to sources, a strategy to keep the 2022-23 NBA MVP healthy for the postseason. The plan has been expected to include periodic time off during the regular season and routine evaluations from doctors and the 76ers’ medical staff, those sources said.”
The 76ers are also without Paul George at the moment, who suffered a knee injury during preseason. They need their star players back as soon as possible, with their game against the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday a date people will expect them to make their season debuts.
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