Joel Embiid has spent years watching Philadelphia rebuild around him, one season after another, yet still has not reached the conference finals. Now the franchise has a supporting cast unlike any he’s had before, with LeBron James and Jaylen Brown joining Tyrese Maxey and V.J. Edgecombe. Yet Embiid is already asking for patience.
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And one NBA analyst thinks the superstar is setting up an excuse before the season begins. During an interview with ESPN’s Malika Andrews, the seasoned anchor asked Embiid what he had learned playing alongside Jimmy Butler, James Harden, and Ben Simmons. And he wanted to apply it to Philadelphia’s upcoming hunt. He shed light on the difficulty of quickly building chemistry.
“The biggest hurdle that we have is how quickly, you know, can we all get together? The last couple of teams that have won a championship, like it’s hard to put a team together after one year and be like, ‘Go do it.’ It’s not impossible. It’s been done before, but it’s gonna take everybody to be able to accomplish that goal.”
That response drew an immediate reaction from SiriusXM analyst Justin Termine, who reposted the interview clip on X and wrote:
“Sounds like some excuse making already. I mean, how many MVP’s have been surrounded by this much talent while still this close to their prime? No excuses allowed this year, so stop trying to make them.”
Termine’s criticism lands for obvious reasons.
The Sixers have a stacked roster with established talent. LeBron James joined the team on a two-year, $8 million deal, while Jaylen Brown arrived in a blockbuster deal after an MVP-caliber season. Tyrese Maxey remains the team’s All-Star guard who averaged 28.3 ppg last season. And Edgecombe enters his second season as a promising young piece.
Joel Embiid, however, offered more than a warning about chemistry.
In the same interview, he described a different locker room balance:
“We got the fine mix of, you know, leadership from the older guys. I guess I can be considered an older guy now. We got Bron and then the younger guys between, you know, Tyrese, VJ, and then JB. So yeah, it’s a good mix.”
That mix matters because Philadelphia does not need Embiid to carry every possession. The team now has multiple players who can create offense, absorb defensive attention, and take pressure off the center during the regular season.
There is another side to Joel Embiid’s comments that Termine’s post does not address: the mental cost of repeatedly coming back from injuries. Embiid said he has had more time to recover and reset, leaving him in a “good spot” physically and mentally. He also acknowledged the doubts that can follow repeated injuries.
That context matters as Philadelphia tries to maximize Joel Embiid’s availability.
In the 2025-26 season, he averaged 26.9 ppg and 7.7 rpg in 38 games. And the 76ers went 24-14 in those appearances.
The 76ers, therefore, enter the season with two competing realities. The roster is talented enough to immediately create enormous expectations.
But the team also has to integrate several major pieces while keeping its franchise center healthy. LeBron James himself said he joined the Sixers partly to help Embiid win his first championship, raising the stakes around the partnership.
That makes Joel Embiid’s argument for patience easier to understand. But it does not remove the standard facing Philadelphia.
Embiid has never advanced beyond the second round of the playoffs, which is why this roster has created such immediate pressure. A team built around Embiid, Bron, Brown, and Maxey will have all the eyes on them when the postseason arrives.
Justin Termine sees the talent and believes the excuses should stop. Embiid sees the talent and is warning that talent alone doesn’t instantly create a championship team.
It’s only a matter of time that will reveal the reality of this super team.