Joel Embiid contract has injury protection for 76ers

Joel Embiid’s talent makes him worthy of a big contract, but the Philadelphia 76ers have protected themselves if he continues to miss time.

Over three seasons since being drafted third overall in 2014, Joel Embiid has played just 31 games for the Philadelphia 76ers. After missing his first two seasons due to ongoing foot issues, he finally played last season and showed what he can do (20.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game) despite playing time restrictions (25.4 minutes per game). A left knee issue ended his 2016-17 campaign early, but he’s expected to be ready for next week’s season opener.

Entering his fourth season (theoretically), it has come time for the 76ers to make a long-term investment in Embiid. They have done so, with a reported five-year, $146.5 million contract extension set to start with the 2018-19 season.

But details of the deal have come out, via ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, showing how the 76ers have protected themselves if Embiid continues to be hampered by injuries.

Over the first four years of the deal, the 76ers can waive Embiid to their financial benefit if he is lost to an injury specifically outlined in the contract language. If he misses more than 25 regular season games and plays fewer than 1,650 minutes in any of those seasons, the team can get out from the rest of the contract.

But Embiid has to have further issues with past problem areas, his feet and back, and not say his knees or shoulders. Releasing Embiid seems unlikely, outside of a Greg Oden-style career-threatening injury, but the 76ers have smartly given themselves an out if that happens.

But ESPN’s Bobby Marks seemed to hint at Embiid’s most recent knee issue also being part of the injury out/protection for the 76ers.

Wojnarowski has laid out the exact numbers for what Embiid would get if the 76ers did waive him at some point during the new deal.

"If Embiid met that narrow criteria and the Sixers decided to waive him after the 2018-19 season, he would receive $84.2 million of his full contract; after the 2019-20 season, $98.2 million; after the 2020-21 season, $113.3 million; and after the 2021-22 season, $129.4 million."

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The kind of injuries Embiid has dealt with early in his career don’t just go away (see Oden, Sam Bowie and others). But the 76ers had to make a decision on how to go forward with him, and they haven’t hampered the potential payoff of Sam Hinkie’s “process” that seems to finally be coming.