Draymond Green has weighed in on the controversy surrounding All-NBA center Joel Embiid’s comments about not playing back-to-back games for the rest of his career.
His message for the former NBA MVP?
In Friday’s episode of “The Draymond Green Show,” the Warriors forward offered Embiid a blunt reality check on what his legacy might look like if he follows through with the Philadelphia 76ers’ “left knee management” plan.
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"I think you should play as many games as you can play, and I think you should average as many points as you can average, and I think you should chase as many individual awards as you can chase," Green told co-host Baron Davis. "Because the talk of winning a championship, you may never win one.”
"The talk of winning a championship... you may NEVER win one"@money23green & @barondavis react to Joel Embiid saying he'll be sitting out back-to-backs for 76ers pic.twitter.com/IZ5pjCcsEP
— The Draymond Green Show with Baron Davis (@DraymondShow) October 25, 2024
The four-time NBA champion quickly clarified his comments, emphasizing that it isn’t impossible for Embiid, who has yet to lead the Sixers past the Eastern Conference semifinals to win an NBA championship.
Green doesn’t want to see Embiid limit his greatness on the floor in exchange for a potential ring.
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"And I'm not saying he can't win one, but what I'm saying is you may never win one, and then you shortage yourself on the thing that we know for sure you can do, which is go get an MVP, cook everybody and leave," Green added. "Like, we know you can do that. So sit out saying, I'm trying to maximize everything so I can get the championship at the end. But you got to know how to win a championship, and he don't because he hasn't done it."
Embiid has yet to make his season debut as Philadelphia looks to prioritize its star's health, prompting the league to launch investigation surrounding the player’s participation.
Last season, despite featuring in a career-low 39 games, the star center averaged 34.7 points, 11 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game.
Now, whether Green’s sound advice gets taken into consideration is something Embiid has yet to prove—and who knows if he will.