WATCH: Joel Embiid talks about legacy, injuries, and family after getting swept by the Knicks in Round 2

Joel Embiid sat in front of the media Sunday afternoon after getting swept out of the playoffs for the second time in his career.

Embiid’s son Arthur was on his lap. His season was over. His body was beaten up from surgery, hip injuries, ankle injuries, and the physical toll of dragging a thin roster through a 3-1 comeback against the Celtics that took everything he had left in the tank. He talked about his injuries, his legacy, and what basketball means to him at this stage of his life.

I’m going to share what he said and then I’m going to say what needs to be said about this franchise.

Joel Embiid on how he views the season:

"I know we lost. … But for me, this was a success."

Although the Sixers got swept, Joel Embiid is grateful to finish the season in good health 💯 pic.twitter.com/h6Lc1em4I9

— ESPN (@espn) May 10, 2026

“I know we lost, and I know it’s not the right mentality to have, but for me, this was a success. I came into this year not knowing where I was gonna be. Not knowing if I was gonna play, if I was even gonna play, based on how the knee was the last few years. I feel like we’re in a position where we figured out the knee. It hasn’t been an issue. I hate losing, but I thought I was done. That’s the best way to put it.”

Joel Embiid on his injuries after the appendectomy:

"It's not an excuse, but everything else is affected. Everything else is out of place."

Joel Embiid says that some of his other injury issues have stemmed from his emergency surgery to deal with appendicitis in April: pic.twitter.com/ymYoGGF2nF

— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) May 10, 2026

“I had complications after the surgery… The core is kind of weak. It’s not an excuse but everything else is affected. Everything else is out of place. The hip, the adductor, everything. You don’t have time to get ready to play, and the little time that you have, you got to go jump straight to playoff basketball. That’s tough. I feel like I still played as hard as I could… gave us a better chance to win… Maybe I got to go to church more. Maybe I’m cursed. Maybe Philadelphia’s cursed… Just have to do the right things over and over and hope that it changes”

Joel Embiid on his legacy:

As part of an extended answer about how he views his legacy in the game, Joel Embiid talks about his son hearing profane chants directed towards his father on the road:

"We go on the road, they're chanting. I hate that he hears that, but he has to understand that that's the way… pic.twitter.com/qOjmOc7FQe

— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) May 10, 2026

“I could care less about what people think about me when it comes to basketball. Basketball is just a platform. Whether I win or lose, I’ll be sad if I don’t win, but I don’t think that’s gonna define me. To go home and raise this guy, raise my daughter, look at my wife and understand that I’m a good man. No matter what people say, we go on the road, they’re chanting things, and I hate that he hears that, but he has to. He has to understand that that’s the way the world is.”

Joel Embiid Full Media Availability >>

Honestly, I’m okay with everything Embiid said.

It looks like the majority of Sixers fans are finally coming around to being okay with it too. The anger and frustration that used to get directed at Embiid after every playoff exit is slowly shifting to where it has always belonged. The front office.

Joel Embiid has been the franchise cornerstone for over a decade. He’s had teammate after teammate come and go. He’s played through a torn meniscus, a broken orbital bone, Bell’s Palsy, an appendectomy, hip contusions, ankle injuries, and a surgically repaired knee that he said he thought might end his career.

He came back from appendix surgery three weeks early and dropped 33 points in a Game 7 on the road in Boston. He waved off TD Garden after hitting a dagger three with the lead down to one.

Even in Sunday’s embarrassing Game 4 loss, he put up 24 points on 8-for-8 shooting from the floor in 28 minutes of action. Not his typical numbers by any means but that happened in a blowout loss that ended his season. The man didn’t miss a single shot from the field.

Is the defense and rebounding a concern? Yes.

Has the availability been frustrating? Of course. Still, Embiid is not the problem with this franchise. He has never been the primary problem with this franchise. He literally begged the organization not to be sellers at the trade deadline.

What did Josh Harris and Daryl Morey do? They sold at the deadline. They looked at a roster with obvious depth problems, decided the season wasn’t worth investing in, and stripped away assets instead of adding them. Embiid wanted to win.

The front office wanted to save money and duck the tax. They treat the Sixers like a business transaction. Nothing more and everything less.

The Organizational Cancer Is the Real Issue

What most Sixers fans are realizing now, maybe for the first time, is that while Embiid has certainly had his struggles in Philadelphia, the organizational failures have done far more damage than any injury ever could.

Morey built a top-heavy roster with three max contracts and no bench. Harris refuses to spend when spending matters. The front office sold at the deadline while the franchise player was begging them to buy. The same depth problems that killed the Sixers this year killed them last year and the year before that.

Embiid’s supermax extension kicks in now. He’ll be here for three more years. Nobody is trading for that contract given his injury history and the salary involved. That’s the reality. The Sixers are locked into Embiid at a supermax number and they have to build around him properly or waste the remaining years of a generational talent.

The frustration that fans feel after another early exit is valid but that frustration should be directed at the front office first, second, and third. Embiid has given this franchise everything he has physically. He has played through things that would end most careers. He came back from surgery to lead a historic playoff comeback. He put up 24 points on perfect shooting in the final game of his season while his body was falling apart.

What more can the man give? He’s given everything.

The organization hasn’t given him enough in return. That’s been the story for years and nothing Embiid said on Sunday changes it.

The man sat there with his son on his lap and talked about wanting to be remembered as a good person more than a basketball player. He talked about wanting his kids to understand that negativity from strangers doesn’t define who you are. He talked about going to church more and wondering if he’s cursed.

Joel Embiid isn’t cursed. He’s just stuck on a team that refuses to build around him properly. There’s a difference. The curse isn’t supernatural. It’s organizational.

Same Problems, Same Result: Sixers swept by the Knicks and nothing changes until the top does >>

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