Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal were pretty disappointed to learn that Philadelphia 76ers megastar Joel Embiid plans to engage in serious load management this season and effectively avoid playing back-to-back games to start the season. But as upset as they were at Embiid, Stephen A. Smith was more disappointed in them.
On Wednesday’s edition of First Take, Smith was stunned to learn that Shaq and Barkley were so harsh on Embiid. In a two-minute rant, Smith explained that Embiid has missed so many games due to injuries that he should be afforded more leniency than any other player. He listed off the slew of body parts that Embiid has injured over his basketball career and said that
“I’m disappointed in Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley,” Smith said. “I can’t believe what came out of their mouth. Joel Embiid has missed 329 games in his career. Let me go down the list — he missed 39 games; he only played in 39 games last year. Last season alone, 34 games missed because of his knee, four games missed because of his ankle, two games missed because of illness… This is what Joel Embiid has missed in his career — foot, knee, health protocols, back, hand, face, ankle, shoulder, calf, hip, elbow, ribs. I mean, damn, is there a part of the body that I missed?
“This dude has been heard over every imaginable injury you can find on the human body. Everything has happened to him but a heart attack — literally. Look at this. I have the numbers right in front of me. Why cannot you understand him going like this, ‘Yo, I’m trying to be ready for April, May, and June; I might need to play the back-to-back or whatever.’ We don’t like it, but we have not seen somebody miss games like this over an inordinate amount of bodily injuries.
“It’s gotten to the point where you might be afraid for Joel Embiid to get on a flight; he might get hurt by flying. It might happen; you just don’t know. I understand — if it was anyone else, I’d get where they were coming from, but for Joel Embiid, who’s a monster who shows up and will bust your (expletive), I don’t understand how they could have a problem considering all the injuries he’s sustained.”
Smith isn’t wrong about Embiid’s injuries. He missed his first two full years in the NBA and didn’t reach 100 career games played until October 2018 – a full four-and-a-half years after being drafted by the 76ers.
Is Stephen A. Smith right? Should Embiid get more rest than his peers?
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