Don't roll your eyes yet, if you haven't already. This isn't the kind of headline you wanted to read as an LA Clippers fan, but it's the reality. After losing five first-round picks as one of the penalties in the cap-circumvention scandal, Joel Embiid could help the team recoup some of those assets.
Yossi Gozlan and Sam Quinn discussed whether the Clippers will become a dumping ground for bad contracts on the "Third Apron Podcast," specifically naming Embiid because the three-year extension he signed with the Sixers, which kicks in this season, doesn't look all that good.
"Are you willing and able to take damaged goods? Somebody who's injured, somebody who's older, somebody who has a contract that doesn't really fit into the structure of whatever their team is building. Joel Embiid is a really obvious one."
Philadelphia isn't ready to send Embiid packing, at least not yet. The Sixers entered the offseason needing to find a way to trade him or Paul George, and they managed to send the forward to the Celtics for Jaylen Brown, but that doesn't mean the star center will remain in Philly.
Embiid is on the most talented team he's been on since the Sixers drafted him in 2014, and while that will play in his favor by taking some of the pressure off him, at least in the regular season, that pressure will ramp up in the playoffs.
What if Philadelphia decides that trading Embiid is necessary to maximize its chances of winning a title? Should LA come calling? Yes, actually.
Clippers can get draft assets in Joel Embiid trade
The two unprotected first-round picks and two first-round pick swaps LA received from Toronto in the Kawhi Leonard trade have already helped put the Clippers on the right path. But that doesn't change the fact that the team has its work cut out for it.
The next few years will be rough, and while the anti-tanking reform the NBA put in place this season won't reward finishing at the bottom of the standings, LA has little choice but to take that route because of the position it put itself in.
Embiid will make a little less than $58 million this season, $62.6 million in 2027-28, and has a $62.3 million player option in 2028-29 that you can already assume he will exercise. If Philly decides it's best to trade him before the February deadline, or even next summer, that contract will be a hard sell unless you're LA.
The Clippers could try to get back the 2028 pick the Sixers sent in the 2023 James Harden trade, which looks much better now than it did then because of the Kawhi scandal. Philadelphia should want to hold onto it for that reason, but getting off Embiid's contract would justify parting ways with it. And it would take more than that to make a deal happen, but that'd be a great start.
Acquiring Embiid would be a key piece of the puzzle for LA in building a future that can actually give fans something to look forward to. Still, to get there, Philadelphia will have to conclude that it's time to close that chapter with the former No. 1 pick and NBA MVP. Given his struggles to stay healthy and on the floor, the Clippers should be ready for that.
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