Joel Embiid surpasses critical minutes mark for his contract
Joel Embiid on Thursday achieved an important milestone.
Though Embiid shot poorly as his Philadelphia 76ers lost to the Miami Heat 108-99, the talented big man played 28 minutes in the contest. Those were important minutes as it gives him 1,658 minutes for the season.
The rookie max contract extension Embiid signed in October protected the Philadelphia 76ers against Embiid’s injury history. According to reporting from ESPN’s Bobby Marks, if Embiid is limited by either his previous back or foot injuries, the Sixers have the option to waive him later for less money. In order to earn the maximum amount available to him in the contract, Embiid has to miss no more than 25 games in a season and play at least 1,650 minutes. Now that he has done so this season, he needs to reach those marks in two of the next three seasons to have all $146 million of his contract guaranteed. The contract could escalate to $176 million if Embiid is voted NBA MVP or first-team All-NBA.
Embiid, 23, is averaging 23.6 points, 11.1 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game this season. Most importantly, he has played in a career-high amount of games. The Sixers will happily pay Embiid all $176 million if he remains healthy and continues to play at a high level. And Embiid has to be pretty happy about this development considering what he thought about his initial minutes restriction.
