Joel Embiid Is Owed Nearly $250 Million Over The Next Four Years

Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid may be seeing yet another season be cut short due to injuries. It was announced on Sunday that the team would be seeking medical opinions on what to do about the big man’s injured knee, which includes the possibility of season-ending surgery. It would be just the latest in a long string of ailments for Embiid, who is owed nearly $250 million over the span of the next four years.

Joel Embiid Owed $248.1 Million Over Next Four Years

It wasn’t long ago when Embiid was considered one of the two best centers in the NBA. He won the MVP award in 2023 after finishing in second place in the voting two years in a row, and won the scoring title in back to back seasons.

His reward was a 3-year maximum value contract extension, which had a value of $192.9 million. Despite his dominance, committing big money to a player who has never played more than 68 games in a season was a big risk for the 76ers, but they felt as though they were on the verge of breaking through their postseason struggles.

The deal, which hasn’t even kicked in yet, is starting to look like a big mistake. Joel Embiid still has another year on his original contract after 2024-25, meaning that the max extension won’t begin until the 2026-27 season. There are more and more questions about his long-term health that have been developing, and he has played in just 19 of his team’s first 56 games this year. Last season, he was able to play in just 39.

After this year, Joel Embiid is owed $248.1M over the next 4 seasons:

25/26: $55.2M

26/27: $59.5M

27/28: $64.3M

28/29: $69.1M

The contract is fully guaranteed.

— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) February 23, 2025

Unfortunately for Philadelphia, Embiid is owed $248.1 million over the course of the next four seasons, an annual average of roughly $62 million. The contract is fully guaranteed.

He has tried to play through the pain in recent weeks, but the effects of the ailment are becoming apparent. Embiid has looked like he’s been laboring heavily in recent games, often picking himself off of the floor or trailing plays due to his lack of explosiveness. He was benched in the fourth quarter of a recent game against the Nets, and has scored 15 or fewer points in consecutive games for the first time in nearly four years.

The 76ers are fading in the Eastern Conference standings. They have lost seven games in a row to drop their record to 20-36, yet are still just 1.5 games behind the 10th and final postseason spot. But the recent news regarding Joel Embiid would likely end their chase for a Play-In spot.