76ers' Mike Gansey says Joel Embiid is healthy, 'extra motivated' - ESPN

Joel Embiid is healthy and «extra motivated» with LeBron James and Jaylen Brown now on his side, according to Philadelphia 76ers president of basketball operations Mike Gansey, who added that the former league MVP is «ready to go.»

«Joel is great,» Gansey said in an interview with ESPN's Kevin Negandhi that aired Thursday. «This is like the first summer I think in a while that he's been healthy, so he's been in the gym working out. He's been lifting weights. He's extra motivated. He wants to play a lot of games, and he's excited about the group we've built now.

»Even before these trades and LeBron, I think he was excited. So he's motivated to have a good year and he's ready to go."

How many games Embiid plays in 2026-27 remains to be seen. The center has played a combined 96 regular-season games over the past three seasons and has not played in more than 40 games since 2022-23, his MVP season.

Gansey said the team would decide the best course of action for Embiid once the schedule was released next week.

«We'll sit down, talk to him, talk to performance staff, talk to [coach] Nick [Nurse] and try to figure out a plan,» Gansey said when asked if he has a number in mind for how many games Embiid would play. «These guys want to play every game, but we got to map it out and see what's best for him and the team.»

In 2025-26, Embiid played in only 38 regular-season games and underwent an emergency appendectomy on April 9. He returned for Game 4 of Philadelphia's first-round series against the Boston Celtics, then sat out Game 2 of the second round against the New York Knicks because of ankle and hip injuries. In total, he would end up playing in seven of the Sixers' 11 postseason games.

Embiid has had a healthy summer for the