Jimmer’s return, Booker’s 59 can’t save Suns

With the Philadelphia 76ers trading away James Harden, the attention is going to turn to how Joel Embiid feels about their chances of competing for a title. The Sixers have a number of future first round picks they can trade while they also currently project to have max cap space in 2024.

“For him and Philadelphia, he’s going to have to buy in to what Daryl Morey’s vision is there with the assets they’ve got,” said Adrian Wojnarowski on Friday’s episode of NBA Today. “Whether that’s at the trade deadline. Whether he sells them on what they can do around the draft or free agency with trades or free agent signings to get a team around him that he believes in moving forward.

“This is true of maybe six, seven, eight players in the league who at any given time who are legit, franchise level MVP players in their prime. Every organization is at the mercy of whether they’re happy. Whether they believe in it. It doesn’t matter whether you are going to be a free agent or have four years left on their deal. That is the reality of the NBA and Philly knows that. Now they’re going to spend, literally, every waking day trying to convince Joel Embiid everything he wants, that’s most of all winning, can still happen with the Sixers.”

Embiid cannot become a free agent until 2026.