Joel Embiid expected to discuss extension with 76ers before 2024-25 season

Now that the Olympics are over and Joel Embiid is returning to the United States with a Gold Medal hanging around his neck, the star center is expected to discuss a contract extension with the Philadelphia 76ers prior to the start of the 2024-25 NBA season, according to a league source.

The former MVP is eligible to sign a three-year, maximum extension with the Sixers worth in the ballpark of $192 million. Embiid is currently under contract with the Sixers for three more seasons, including a player option for the 2026-27 season.

If Embiid were to sign an extension with the Sixers, he would decline that player option and tack the new three-year deal onto the end of the two guaranteed seasons he has remaining. So in all, a three-year extension, if signed this offseason, would keep Embiid in a Sixers uniform for the next five seasons -- likely the bulk of his remaining prime players years.

Sure there are some concerns given his injury history and advancing age, but the Sixers are assuredly going to offer Embiid an extension. He might have been the league's reigning two-time MVP had he not gotten hurt last season, and he's still squarely in his prime. He's the franchise's best -- and most marketable -- player since Allen Iverson, and he's still its best chance of winning a championship.

The team just signed Paul George to a four-year max with the intention of pairing him and Embiid together for the life of that deal in order to maximize the remaining prime of both players. Tyrese Maxey also signed a max extension with the team this offseason, so Embiid is the logical next domino to fall.

The two sides could technically wait a year and look to agree on an extension next offseason, but that's also not necessary if both sides want to get a deal done, and all indications are that Embiid would like to spend the entirety of his career in Philadelphia, if possible. As a result, it wouldn't be surprising if an agreement was reached this offseason. 

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