Joel Embiid 'Extra Motivated' After 76ers Add LeBron James, Jaylen Brown to Roster, Mike Gansey Says

Few players face more pressure to deliver playoff success than Joel Embiid, and the Philadelphia 76ers star is "extra motivated" heading into his first season alongside Jaylen Brown and LeBron James.

"Joel is great," 76ers president of basketball operations Mike Gansey told ESPN's Kevin Negandhi on Thursday. "This is like the first summer I think in a while that he's been healthy, so he's been in the gym working out. He's been lifting weights. He's extra motivated. He wants to play a lot of games, and he's excited about the group we've built now.

"Even before these trades and LeBron, I think he was excited. So he's motivated to have a good year and he's ready to go."

Embiid has more reasons to be excited for the upcoming campaign besides getting to play with James and Brown. For the first time in years, he's not spending his offseason battling injuries and can instead focus on the 2026-27 campaign rather than rehab.

Of course, the 76ers' new superteam also gives Embiid another reason to be motivated.

Philadelphia already had a strong core of Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe, and now it has a former Finals MVP and one of the greatest players of all time.

Anything other than a championship will be considered a disappointment.

The Sixers' success relies heavily on Embiid's ability to stay healthy, though, and Gansey said the team will have to figure out how it can keep the former MVP from sustaining an injury.

"We'll sit down, talk to him, talk to performance staff, talk to [coach] Nick [Nurse] and try to figure out a plan," Gansey said. "These guys want to play every game, but we got to map it out and see what's best for him and the team."

Embiid put up 26.9 points and 7.7 boards per game last year, though he appeared in just 38 contests. It marked the third consecutive season he's played fewer than 40 games.

The last time he played more than 39 games, he took home his only MVP award.

Embiid might not be on his way to another MVP campaign this year, but if he's healthy come playoff time, few teams will be able to stop the 76ers.