Browsing: Embiid

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  Jeff BorzelloSep 26, 2025, 12:14 PM ET

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  Jeff Borzello is a basketball recruiting insider. He has joined ESPN in 2014.

CAMDEN, New Jersey — There isn’t a definitive timeline for Philadelphia 76ers stars Joel Embiid and Paul George to return from their respective knee surgeries, both players said Friday at the team’s media day.

Embiid said he feels “pretty good” but he’s taking it day by day and checking boxes as he progresses toward a return.

“There’s not necessarily an expectation; it’s more about making sure everything is right and doing everything right and then go from there,” he said. “Obviously the goal is to play consistently and not be the position that we were last year.”

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Embiid was limited to 19 games last season because of his ongoing left knee injury and a foot sprain, officially shutting down his campaign in late February. He averaged 23.8 points per game, his fewest since the 2019-20 season, and 8.2 rebounds, the former NBA MVP’s fewest since his rookie year in 2016-17.

He underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee in April, with a reevaluation timeline of six weeks. Friday’s media day, however, was the first official health update since the surgery and the first time Embiid has spoken publicly since February.

Embiid was asked whether there were any on-court adjustments he could make moving forward to avoid injury.

“At times you can’t get out of yourself,” he said. “All I know is, ever since I started this, to play hard, play both ends. There’s a lot of people in the league that play one side, whether it’s offense or defense. A lot of times for me, my mentality is to do whatever it takes to win. For all of my career, it’s been having to do both.”

“I’ve gotten to this point because of how good I am at both ends of the floor. If you ask me to change the way I play, the only guess that I have is either play offense fully and take plays off defensively, which doesn’t suit me,” Embiid continued. “I don’t think I’d ever be OK with that. I don’t know. We’ll just wait and see. If it’s gotta be that way, it’s definitely going to be an adjustment, but I don’t see that happening.”

“We’re not getting into the expectations game,” said Daryl Morey, the franchise’s president of basketball operations. “The doctors’ advice, what Joel said on listening to his body, which is a big component on how doctors manage injuries — that’s going to be what carries the day this year.”

Head coach Nick Nurse said he’s hoping there’s more to manage with Embiid’s availability this season, which would mean he’s able to play more than a year ago.

“There was not a whole lot of management,” Nurse said. “He didn’t play a lot, he wasn’t allowed to play a lot. His body wasn’t allowing him to be there. I hope there’s management issues where we’re trying to figure out when he’s playing, when he’s not playing, and it’s going on for a long time. I think that’s what we’re all hoping for.”

George underwent an arthroscopic procedure on his left knee in July after suffering an injury during a workout and was expected to be reevaluated in September. He played in just 41 games last season after signing a four-year, $212 million maximum contract with Philadelphia in the summer of 2024. The nine-time NBA All-Star dealt with a number of ailments last season, before receiving injections in his left adductor muscle and left knee and shutting down his season in March.

“I’m getting better and better. Feeling stronger and stronger,” George said. “This next couple of weeks is very important, leading into the start of the season, opening night, all of that stuff. All I can do is just focus on doing that, day after day, taking it one day at a time. I do think I will be at a good place, hopefully, earlier than later.”

He said he can do “pretty much everything but full contact.” George won’t be fully ready for the start of training camp, but the swelling in his knee is going down.

“I don’t think there’s a timeline,” he said, “just how the body is doing as we’re ramping up the work.”

The 6-foot-8 forward averaged just 16.2 points last season, his fewest since his six-game 2014-15 campaign. George has played more than 56 games in a season just once since 2018-19.

“It can’t get worse than last year,” he said. “That was a rock bottom kind of season.”

Jared McCain, the Sixers’ first-round pick in 2024, looked to be on track for the start of the season after suffering a torn meniscus in his left knee last December, but he suffered a UCL tear in his right thumb in a workout on Thursday. He was averaging 15.3 points before his season was cut short after 23 games.

“Some injuries are fluky. Jared’s couldn’t have been more fluky,” Morey said. “We’re still working with doctors to see when he’ll be back.”

Quentin Grimes, who would be expected to take on a bigger role with McCain sidelined, wasn’t at media day on Friday. ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Wednesday that Grimes is unlikely to travel with the team to Abu Dhabi for preseason games against the New York Knicks due to a contract stalemate. The restricted free agent has until Oct. 1 to accept a one-year qualifying offer.

“I think we will get to a resolution in the next few days, hopefully,” Morey said. “But we’re excited to bring him back. He’s a big part of what we’re trying to do, now and into the future, if we can get things resolved.”

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  Tim BontempsSep 26, 2025, 07:20 AM ET

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  Tim Bontemps is a senior NBA writer for ESPN.com who covers the league and what’s impacting it on and off the court, including trade deadline intel, expansion and his MVP Straw Polls. You can find Tim alongside Brian Windhorst and Tim MacMahon on The Hoop Collective podcast.

On Thursday, ESPN’s expert panel completed its 15th annual ranking of the NBA’s best players.

In response, we reached out to scouts, coaches and executives across the league to get their feedback on our new top 100 for 2025-26, including comments on where they agreed and disagreed with our rankings.

Here’s a rundown of some of the biggest questions and points of contention from our latest edition of NBA Rank, including how long Denver Nuggets star center and three-time MVP Nikola Jokic will remain atop the heap, whether any American players could eventually supplant him in that top spot, and just how much longer active legends LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry can keep themselves among the league’s elite stars.

How long will No. 1 stay No. 1?

The consensus from conversations is that Jokic, who has been the definitive top player or at least in the conversation for the past several years, has at least two more runs at No. 1 before he’s likely to start sliding down this list. “That might seem low,” an East executive told ESPN, “but we never account for how fast things change in the league.”

But Jokic’s stay atop this list, at least according to league insiders, will be as much about how his game should age as the pack trying to catch up. And for a player who doesn’t rely on speed or leaping ability to make an MVP impact, aging gracefully into the end of his prime shouldn’t be a problem.

“There’s no reason his game will slow down,” an East scout said.

“It’s all about his motivation to stay in shape,” another said.

Which players could jump into the top 10 next season?

Some answers naturally pointed to a player who is a top-10 lock — if he was healthy: Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum, who is coming off a fourth consecutive All-NBA First Team selection but will miss at least the majority of the season after tearing his right Achilles in May.

NBA Rank: The league’s top 100 players

• Nos. 10-1: Who’s No. 1?
• Nos. 50-11: Who just missed the top 10?
• Nos. 100-51: Flagg’s debut ranking
• Picks for 2026: Pelton’s 10 players to watch
• Roundtable: Biggest snubs and surprises from the new top 100

Tatum had plenty of company. Multiple people tabbed Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jalen Williams (No. 11), Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham (No. 12), Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (No. 15) and Orlando Magic forward Paolo Banchero (No. 17) as candidates.

The case for Williams builds off him helping Oklahoma City win the NBA title this past spring, including scoring 40 points in Game 5. Cunningham, meanwhile, earned praise for his growth last season in leading Detroit to its best season in a decade, and for his ability to keep expanding his game.

“He’s got size, playmaking, shooting, he can guard,” one East executive said. “He checks a lot of boxes.”

For Mitchell and Banchero, the case was rooted in a similar logic: Both lead teams that have a chance to break through in a truly wide-open conference. A top-10 spot could be theirs if either can spark a deep playoff run or reach the NBA Finals.

“If [Banchero] comes in and plays the right way, and they do what they are supposed to do,” an East assistant coach said, “I could absolutely see him in there next year.”

What is your top five for this season?

For the second straight year, every person asked rattled off four names right away: Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Luka Doncic.

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Several players, however, earned at least one vote for fifth, including Victor Wembanyama, Curry, Anthony Edwards, Durant and Mitchell.

“[Wembanyama] was already good,” one West scout said, “and now he’s got guys around him and they’re trying to win.”

“[Edwards] just continues to grow,” another said.

“[Mitchell] doesn’t get enough credit for how he’s lifted that franchise,” an East scout said, “and for how he’s changed his game to mesh with the guys they had.”

Do LeBron, Steph and KD still belong in the top 10?

It’s remarkable that three players who will be 37 or older by the time the 2025-26 season starts — James will be the oldest player in the league for a consecutive season — remain inside the top 10 in these rankings. And, in large part, league insiders agreed with the assessment. Some argued that one or two of them is a borderline selection, but no one said this trio’s rankings were out of bounds.

“They should be there,” a West assistant coach said. “They’re just not top-five guys anymore.”

“They are for sure [top 10] as long as they are healthy,” an East scout said, “but that’s no sure thing at this point.”

“They’re moving down for sure,” an East executive said, “but they should still be there.”

Flagg or bust? Will an American player become No. 1 any time soon?

With there now being seven straight international picks as the league’s MVP, the top five guys on this list all being international players and the biggest young star in the sport being France’s Wembanyama, the most popular answer to this question, for a second straight year, was no.

But now that he has successfully made it to the NBA, there was a healthy amount of respect for No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg, and his ability to eventually make a run at the spot last held by Durant in 2021.

“You don’t go to Team USA [last summer] and do what he did,” one East assistant coach said, “and not have a chance.”

Other players who received mentions: Edwards, Banchero and Tatum.

Where will Flagg rank ahead of 2026-27?

The consensus on Flagg is that he will make a solid leap up this list next season.

“Top 25,” one West assistant coach said. “He’ll be a borderline All-Star and the conversation will be about whether he should make it as a second-year guy or not.”

Several others had Flagg inside the top 30 in next year’s rankings, which was the consensus answer. The only questions posed about Flagg’s potential didn’t center around his game, but rather the Dallas Mavericks’ veteran-heavy roster, which league insiders feared could provide an awkward fit, at least initially.

“I just don’t like the role for him on that team,” said a West assistant, who had Flagg inside the top 50 next season, rather than higher.

Virtually everyone said that, when healthy, the Philadelphia 76ers’ MVP big man is a top-10 or top-15 player. But, given that NBA Rank is a combination of quantity and quality of play for the upcoming season, and that Embiid is coming off playing only 19 games last season, where could they see him landing?

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A few league insiders said they couldn’t see him on the list at all. “I just don’t think he’ll play enough,” a West executive said.

Most, though, said they would rank Embiid somewhere inside the top 40, with a few elevating him into the top 25. “The upside is just too great to have him much lower than that,” an East scout said.

Which group would you rather have for this season: the Knicks (seven players in the top 100) or the Cavs (four players in the top 50)?

Given how these franchises are the two favorites in the East, and that there’s no consensus as to which is better at the moment, it wasn’t shocking that this question led to what basically amounted to a 50-50 split. Those who favored the Knicks pointed to the team’s superior depth, while those who picked the Cavaliers opted for the team’s concentration of more top-end talent.

“They’re more battle-tested,” one West scout said of the Knicks, who reached Game 7 of the conference finals last season.

“[The Cavs] are more athletic, they have better defensive potential and a higher ceiling,” an East scout said.

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