Welcome to Layup Lines, For the Win’s basketball newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Have feedback for the Layup Lines Crew? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey. Now, here’s Mike Sykes
Happy Friday, folks! Welcome back to Layup Lines. Thanks so much for joining me today. I hope you had a great week and have an even better weekend ahead of you.
I know one person who definitely does: Joel Embiid.
The 76ers star player has to be swimming in pools of cash at this point. Embiid reportedly signed a three-year, $193 million extension with the 76ers on Friday, according to the latest from The Athletic’s Shams Charania.
When stacked on top of his current deal that runs through the 2026-27 season, his deal becomes a five-year, $301 million commitment. That’s one of the three richest deals in NBA history behind Jayson Tatum ($314 million) and Jaylen Brown ($304 million).
The deal keeps Embiid locked in with the 76ers through his prime. By the end of the deal he’ll be 35 years old. We don’t know how long it’ll be until he retires, obviously, but he’ll have given his best years to Philadelphia.
This is a no-brainer deal for Daryl Morey and the 76ers. Embiid is arguably the best player in the NBA when healthy. His 34.1 Player Efficiency Rating last season was on track to be the highest in a single NBA season by far before injuries disqualified him from going down in the history books. You don’t let a player like that walk out the door.
But, still, the deal is quite risky despite how good he is. Why? You already know the answer. It’s because of his health.
Again, Embiid is arguably the best player in the NBA when healthy. But the problem is his health is always a question. He’s never played more than 68 games in a single season. Last year, he only played 39 total after tearing his meniscus before the All-Star break. That’s not ideal for a player a team will be investing more than $60 million into.
With that said, the 76ers should be more than comfortable with this deal, injury history aside.
The first reason is obvious: He’s awesome. We don’t need to go over that again. But this team is also built to withstand a significant injury to their star player. As best as it can, anyway.
The 76ers have two All-Stars in Tyrese Maxey and, the team’s newest addition, Paul George. Behind them are solid rotation players who’ve contributed to teams that have made deep playoff runs, like Kyle Lowry, Caleb Martin, Reggie Jackson, and more. Philadelphia also retained Kelly Oubre, who made key contributions to keep the team afloat after Embiid went down last season.
Obviously, it isn’t ideal for a team’s best player to go down — especially not when that player is as good as Embiid is. But if there’s a roster that might withstand a bit of that impact, it’s this one.
The 76ers are in a great spot and should be considered a championship contender moving through this extension with Embiid.
Are the Winds a’changin’?
We’ve all been wondering who Adrian Wojnarowski’s replacement at ESPN might be now that he’s retired.
There are plenty of suitable names out there to take the job. Most fans thought it’d be Shams Charania, but there are other candidates out there, too.
Apparently, however, ESPN’s search might not branch out too far. According to Front Office Sports, many around the industry believe Woj’s replacement is already at the company. Brian Windhorst shouldn’t be overlooked, writes FOS’s Michael McCarthy.
“Charania may want to tread carefully in negotiations, since ESPN has its own deep roster of NBA insiders and analysts. Start with Brian Windhorst. He’s covered LeBron James since high school. “He’s criminally underrated,” said one source. In fact, sources whisper Wojnarowski’s departure could pave the way for Windhorst’s ascension, that the feeling in some circles is he’s been held back by Woj’s outsized presence.”
Windhorst has been a staple at ESPN for years — he even pre-dates Wojnarowski at the company. It wouldn’t be shocking if he’s the one who the company relies on for most of its scoops following Woj’s retirement. That’s essentially how it was before, even if it wasn’t at the breakneck pace that things are now.
Shootaround
— We ranked the NBA’s new City jerseys. They’re better than last year! Still probably not great, though.
— Jason Kelce is speaking out against the 76ers City Center arena plan. Shoutout to him. A true man of the people.
— Charles Curtis has more on Tyrese Maxey’s girlfriend, who has made waves across the internet recently.
— Isaac Okoro being the final Woj bomb is amazing. Here’s Bryan with more.
-Sykes 💯