76ers star Joel Embiid could seek a new NBA home away from Philadelphia “sooner rather than later”, according to Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports.
The news comes two days after the Philadelphia big man erased “Processing” from his bio on X (now known as Twitter) and removed Philadelphia as his location. While many NBA fans were trying to interpret if Embiid was being an infamous internet troll or seriously wanting out of Philadelphia, ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne later reported that Embiid was “happy to be a Sixer” and that he was merely being “Joel Troel.”
However, an Embiid departure from the City of Brotherly Love may not be so farfetched after all. Goodwill reported that Daryl Morey is secretly hoping for a full rebuild within the franchise should the 29-year-old seek to leave the organization. Morey parted ways with Doc Rivers as the team’s head coach this summer, replacing him with Nick Nurse.
In each of the last six seasons, Philadelphia was eliminated in the Eastern Conference semifinals or the quarterfinals, with three of those postseason appearances falling under Rivers. The reigning NBA MVP may desire to play elsewhere, considering all the changes that have taken place and a mounting rift between Morey and Harden.
Even more, on Saturday, NBA reporter Marc Stein reported that the league plans to re-investigate the 76ers’ organization after Harden called Morey a “liar” to a group of fans in China earlier this week. With Harden clearly wanting out of Philadelphia, the 76ers’ center could be next.
Embiid, who will enter his eighth NBA season this fall, averaged career highs in points (33.1), assists (4.2), field goal percentage (54.8%) and minutes (34.6) per game during the regular season.
