While we are all collectively disappointed and upset at Joel Embiid’s snub from the First Team All-NBA, there is a silver lining. By making the Second Team All-NBA, Joel Embiid officially qualifies for a supermax contract. You all may remember a similar situation last off-season when Giannis Antetokounmpo signed a five-year, 228 million dollar supermax contract of his own.

There are currently six players on supermax contracts, five of which are worth over 200 million dollars. The only player to have signed a supermax and played a majority of it out with the team he signed it with is Steph Curry. Curry will make 45 million dollars next season on the fifth and final year on the contract. Three out of the four players not mentioned currently don’t play for the teams that inked them to such huge contracts. Russell Westbrook, John Wall, and James Harden are all playing out their supermax contracts on new teams.

Joel Embiid is currently in the third year of his five-year, 147 million dollar contract. Over the next two years, the Sixers owe Embiid 31 and 33 million dollars. The potential supermax extension Joel qualifies for would be a four-year, 191 million dollar contract. If Joel and the Sixers agree to this potential deal, it will ink the 2021 MVP runner-up with the team through 2026. By the time Embiid could hit free agency again, he’d be 34 years old.

While there is certainly some concern with locking down Embiid for that many years with his injury history, there’s no denying his improvement each year with the team. Without an injury derailing his 2020-21 campaign, Embiid would be the league MVP this season and continues to be a dominant force in the post-season despite the meniscus issues. In the end, nothing would be better for Embiid and Philly than making sure Joel Embiid is a Sixer for life.

Mandatory Credit: Matt Slocum