PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers moved on Friday to give President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey a big extension that keeps him in the City of Brotherly Love through the 2027-28 season. It gives the franchise stability at the top of the front office.
With Morey and coach Nick Nurse locked up for the long term, attention turns to Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey.
There has been speculation that Embiid might be the next to request a trade if the Sixers don’t win. Reports have indicated teams are waiting to see what happens in the short term with Embiid and are looking to make an offer to acquire him. Morey squashed those reports on Friday.
“So he always has been — it was really frustrating this summer,” Morey said. “Obviously, we were taking our lumps, you know, for various reasons in the media, but Joel has been 100% Philly, 100% Sixers, 100% winning the championship here in every meeting and Joel didn’t get frustrated because he whatever. For him, it’s not a big — I think he just knows what he knows.”
It didn’t help that Embiid had a viral video in the summer about his desire to win a championship whether it was in Philadelphia or somewhere else, but it appears that Morey is very confident Embiid’s future will be in a Sixers uniform.
“For me, it was frustrating that it came up and it was like rivals trying to create this noise and yeah, it was frustrating,” Morey added. “But he’s never wavered on his commitment to this city and winning here.”
Then there’s the future of Maxey. The rising star was extension eligible in the 2023 offseason, but he didn’t get one. That raised eyebrows around the league. However, Morey is big on flexibility and the front office wanted to wait until the 2024 offseason because of the options waiting would create. There is very little chance Maxey ever leaves Philadelphia.
“We’re not allowed to get those details,” Morey said of a potential Maxey extension. “Just by NBA rule even, but I think, look, if the team wins at the level we’re hoping to win at, everything really takes care of itself, and we know a good thing when we got it.”
With Morey and Nurse locked in long term in Philadelphia, Embiid locked in until 2027, and a Maxey extension likely coming in the offseason, Philadelphia has continuity. That’s something team governors Josh Harris and David Blitzer wanted with extending Morey.
“I was thrilled that ownership came and said ‘Look, we want to keep this group together’ and by this group, he means myself, he means Elton Brand, he means Nick Nurse, he means Joel, he means like Tyrese,” Morey finished. “He means all the key people who are driving winning here. I think Josh and David, again that was private discussions between them said ‘Hey, we’ve got a really solid thing going here that’s giving us a very good chance to win the championship and let’s keep that together’. So they reached out to me and it’s been recently just in the last couple of weeks.”
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