Philadelphia big man Joel Embiid just got paid

The Philadelphia 76ers just made perhaps the largest $148 million gamble any of us have ever seen when they paid center Joel Embiid on Monday.

The NBA season is just a little over one week away, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t get big news. The Sixers gave new meaning to the phrase, “Trust the process,” signing Joel Embidd to a monster contract extension.

For those wondering what super max criteria is, heavy.com does a nice job of laying out the details.

"A player needs to either be entering (or have just completed) his eighth or ninth season. As The Atlantic points outs, players aiming to eventually land a supermax deal would sign a contract extension after their rookie deal. After this extension, eligible players could sign a supermax contract. For most of the eligible players, the supermax deal would be their third NBA contract."

There are also performance elements that players have to hit. The most surprising part of this extension absolutely has to be the fact Embiid has played in exactly 31 career games.

Make no mistake, when Embiid is healthy, he’s one of the most unique players in the NBA. He’s seven feet tall and has shot three-pointers at a 36.7 percent clip. If you look at his stats per every 36 minutes, Embiid is a monster. His average per game is almost 29 points, 11 rebounds, three assists, a steal and three blocks.

The phrase that pays in all those nice stats is when Embiid is healthy. As a newer NBA fan, he might be the most fun player to watch, in my opinion. It’s a little sad that he was drafted in 2014 and has played for 786 minutes. That’s an insanely small sample size for basketball, and it’s made worse by the fact it’s taken Embiid three years to reach that benchmark. This contract could be very reasonable if Embiid plays. It could also be the equivalent of holding a live grenade as it’s about to explode.

Next: Every NBA team's greatest draft pick of all time

Embiid has made poked fun at his own expense about his injury history a few different times. His fresh new deal has to make it worthwhile, and hopefully for Philly and their fans, this contract isn’t the one being laughed at a few years from now.