Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid is one of the league’s more polarizing players. The former MVP was recently the subject of heavy criticism after he said he may not play in back-to-backs ever again. Kevin Garnett recently took to the “ALL THE SMOKE” podcast to share his opinion on the topic.
“Eighty-two games, man. This is what the f–king job calls for,” Garnett said. “You’re not practicing, you’re not even playing a whole f–king, you don’t play in the summer? … I don’t want to hear that s–t, man. I don’t want to hear none of that s–t. Motherf–ker can sit out of back-to-backs?”
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Embiid and the Sixers’ president of basketball operations Daryl Morey recently said that Embiid’s time playing in back-to-backs may be over.
“If I had to guess,” Embiid said, “I would probably never play back-to-backs the rest of my career.”
“We’re going to be smart about it,” Morey said. “Part of being smart about it is having both Paul [George] and Joel probably not play many back-to-backs, if any.”
With the NBA requiring players to play in at least 65 games in order to qualify for awards such as the MVP, this would make it much harder for Embiid to add more individual accolades to his resume. Garnett was known for his durability and played in at least 71 games in 12 of his first 13 seasons. Although the game is different now than it was during Garnett’s era, it still seems a little extreme to automatically sit out of so many games moving forward.
James Parker is an NBA writer for Ball Exclusives, follow him on X @TheJames_Parker
