Joel Embiid’s health issues have been the story of his career.
Despite being one of the greatest players of his generation with an MVP award to his name, injuries seem to overshadow everything he has accomplished.
There’s still uncertainty about his current health and when we should expect to see him back next season.
To make matters worse, the 76ers’ schedule was released today, and after looking it over, it does not favor Embiid in the Sixers for one major reason.
Why does the 76ers’ schedule not favor Embiid?
As always, certain categories are looked at when the schedule comes out.
People want to see which teams play the most nationally televised games or who plays on Christmas, for example.
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One category that exists as well is the total number of back-to-back games in the season.
It’s impossible to make each team’s travel schedule equal to every other team’s, so imbalances are bound to happen, but in this case, the 76ers were struck with very bad luck.
The 76ers will have to play 16 back-to-backs in the 2025-26 season, tying them for the most B2Bs in the NBA (via NBACentral).
This isn’t good for Philly, considering Embiid has been struggling to stay healthy.
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Whether or not he plays in these back-to-backs, it won’t be good. For someone like Embiid, he’s trying to maintain health, so sitting out hurts his team, while playing in these B2Bs can put him at risk of getting injured off of little rest.
Embiid isn’t the only player who’s faced health issues, as Paul George is coming off an injury himself.
It’ll be an interesting situation that Philly will have to figure out how to manage, since it will be a recurring theme throughout the entire season.
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