The NBA MVP runner-up two years running is about to start getting paid like it — let’s take a closer look at the Sixers’ Joel Embiid contract details.
Joel Embiid, at his best, is the most dominant big man in the NBA. He is a force on both ends of the floor, boasting both a scoring title and All-Defensive team honors in his career. Unfortunately, injuries have been a major obstacle in his career since he was drafted third overall by the Philadelphia 76ers in 2014.
Embiid missed the first two full seasons of his career, battling a foot injury that began during his only season at the University of Kansas. He has yet to play more than 68 games in a season, but that 68-game mark was reached last season, possibly pointing to Embiid missing time being less of a concern. Even with a notably high percentage of missed games on his resume, the Sixers still signed him to a rookie max extension for five years and over $147 million.
The 7-foot Cameroon native has lived up to the deal, to say the least. He has been an All-Star every year since signing it and has boosted his career averages up over 26 points and 11 rebounds a game. While he is very much an ultra-modern big man with the ability to shoot and handle on the perimeter, something about Joel Embiid feels like a throwback to the centers of old. Embiid does play a punishing style of basketball, feasting in the paint on opposing centers. That, no doubt, has contributed to his being sidelined with injury.
But Embiid earned a second extension, this one more lucrative than the last. In August 2021, Philadelphia signed him to a four-year, $210 million supermax extension, set to begin next year.
With that in mind, let’s look at the finer details of the 76ers’ Joe Embiid contract.
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Joel Embiid Contract Details & Salary
All dollar figures via Spotrac.
Years: 5
Total value: $210,112,000
Average annual value: $52,528,000
Free agency: 2026 or 2027 (player option — see below)
2022-23 salary: $33,616,770
Upcoming supermax extension earnings:
2023-24: $46,900,000
2024-25: $50,652,000
2025-26: $54,404,000
2026-27: $58,156,000 (player option)
Thanks to his supermax deal entitling him to an annual haul at 35% of the NBA salary cap, Embiid will be the next hardwood star to land a contract paying out over $50 million per season. Even with his injury history, he is one of the most productive and impactful players in the Association, and 2022-23 is only his age-28 season, making him the same age as Giannis Antetokounmpo and Pascal Siakam and younger than Anthony Davis, Bradley Beal, Rudy Gobert, and Kyrie Irving. Even if Embiid is already in his prime years, there is presumably time left where he would live up to most, if not all, of this payday — and even earn upwards $60 million a year on another 35% extension.
Being a four-time All-NBA selection before turning 28 is a remarkable feat and an indication that the player is on a first-ballot Hall of Fame trajectory, and it cements just how valuable both as a center and an overall basketball player Joel Embiid can be. If he can hold up physically into his 30s, his icon status in Philly sports and among the ranks of all-time NBA centers will be of the rarest kind.
Joel Embiid’s Career Earnings
TOTAL NBA EARNINGS THRU 2022-23: $165,972,037
ESTIMATED SALARY EARNINGS THRU 2026-27: $376,084,087 (requires exercising player option in 2026-27)
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