76ers' Joel Embiid Doubts He'll Ever Play in Back-to-Backs Again Amid Injury Concerns

After dealing with injuries throughout his career, Philadelphia 76ers superstar center Joel Embiid doesn't expect to play both ends of back-to-backs at any point in the future.

"If I had to guess, I would probably never play back-to-backs the rest of my career," Embiid said, per ESPN's Tim Bontemps.

Philadelphia president of basketball operations Daryl Morey shared similar sentiments.

"We're going to be smart about it," Morey said, per Bontemps. "Part of being smart about it is having both Paul and Joel probably not play many back-to-backs, if any."

Fresh off winning his first NBA MVP Award in 2022-23, Embiid struggled through an injury-plagued campaign in 2023-24, missing 43 regular-season games due primarily to knee injury.

However, Embiid was a dominant force in the regular season when healthy, averaging 34.7 points, 11.0 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 1.7 blocks and 1.2 steals per game.

While he played significantly fewer games, those numbers were better than the ones he put up the previous year en route to winning MVP when he averaged 33.1 points, 10.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.7 blocks and 1.0 steal.

Embiid returned from injury late in the regular season, and although he clearly wasn't 100 percent, he pushed through and helped Philadelphia qualify for the playoffs.

The 76ers went down 2-0 to the New York Knicks in their first-round playoff series, but they bounced back to win Game 3 125-114, and Embiid was a huge reason why, as he racked up 50 points.

Following the game, Embiid told reporters that he had been dealing with a bout of Bell's palsy, which causes weakness and drooping in the face muscles.

He played through the issue, but the Sixers ended up dropping the series to New York 4-2. Embiid had more basketball to play, though, winning a gold medal with Team USA at the Olympics over the summer.

Embiid has proven to be one of the best players in the NBA when healthy. Now, it appears as though there may be a plan in place to try to keep him as healthy as possible moving forward.