Philadelphia 76ers superstar Joel Embiid has faced a whole lot of criticism over the course of his career. One of the biggest knocks on Embiid is that he can’t stay healthy, and his weight is often pointed to as a big reason for his injuries.
Embiid has previously been listed as seven feet tall and 280 pounds, and many have called for him to shed weight. It appears the 31-year-old might have finally listened, as he looks rather skinny in some pictures that recently went viral on social media.
Embiid hasn’t looked that slender in a very long time, and this is a good sign. Here’s another picture of him speaking to 76ers rookie V.J. Edgecombe.
You wonder if Embiid’s injury woes would have lessened had he been in this kind of shape earlier. We have barely seen the seven-time All-Star in action over the last 18 months or so.
Embiid featured just 19 times for the 76ers in 2024-25 and averaged 23.8 points, 8.2 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 0.7 steals, and 0.9 blocks per game. His numbers dropped across the board, and it was all doom and gloom in Philadelphia entering this offseason.
Some of the initial reporting about Embiid in the summer didn’t make the situation seem any better either. It was claimed that he might miss the start of training camp and that the 76ers regretted giving the 2023 MVP a three-year, $193 million extension in 2024.
Team insider Keith Pompey also speculated that the end might be near for Embiid, and you started to fear the worst at that point. Was a generational talent like him going to be forced to walk away from the game in his early 30s?
Well, these pictures give you hope that it might not be the case. There is at least a reason now to be cautiously optimistic about Embiid for the 2025-26 season.
The 76ers fans would love to see a return to MVP form for Embiid, and, of course, it wasn’t all that long ago that he was tearing up the league. He averaged 34.7 points, 11.0 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 1.2 steals, and 1.7 blocks per game for the 76ers in 2023-24, but featured just 39 times.
It’s hard to predict at this point whether Embiid can play at that level again. His last NBA game was all the way back in February 2025, and we can start making lofty proclamations once we see him in action again.
If Embiid is anywhere near his best and manages to stay relatively healthy, then the 76ers could well make some noise in the East next season. They finished with a woeful 24-58 record in 2024-25, thanks to injuries, and would now be hoping to be the beneficiary of the injury bug striking teams like the Boston Celtics and Indiana Pacers.
