Joel Embiid, who is absent from the Sixers, is deceptive in his own defense

Absent superstar Joel Embiid held a pop-up press conference at Sixers practice on Friday to justify his lack of preparation for the 2024-25 season.

It was the first time since the start of the season that he missed games because he was unable to play. He hasn't committed to playing any time soon, and he hasn't indicated how much his participation in the Olympics has delayed his fitness to earn his $51 million salary for this season, but he has said a few things that are worth addressing.

On his fitness and health: “It was never decided. Like I said, everyone agreed.”

Embiid, who has missed the first four games and will miss at least one more, claimed Saturday that the Sixers knew from the start that he might not be ready for Game 1. According to Sixers sources, that's simply wrong.

They monitored his progress during the offseason and reassured him that he was making good progress. When he arrived at training camp overweight – coach Nick Nurse said last week that Embiid had lost 25 pounds so far – and still suffering from knee problems from his surgery in February, the Sixers devised a plan that would prepare him for the rigors of the regular season and would hopefully preserve him for a successful playoff run.

Embiid hasn't been healthy in any of his 11 seasons, and only once has he been healthy for a playoff run, and that was in 2020 when COVID delayed the playoffs by several months.

Regarding two columns I recently wrote criticizing his lack of professionalism and the Sixers' lack of transparency during this latest bizarre development in the team's long history of bizarre developments:

” READ MORE: Joel Embiid has no respect for the Sixers, the game, its greats or himself. Shaquille O'Neal and Charles Barkley are right to screw with him.

“Marcus…whatever his name is. I’ve done way too much for this (expletive) city to be treated like that, so I’ve done way too (expletive) much.”

” READ MORE: The Sixers plan to use Joel Embiid early and often. They should give fans refunds for games without him.

In fact, Embiid won an MVP award, managed the Sixers for nine seasons and could end up being the best player in franchise history. But unlike Wilt Chamberlain, Julius Erving, Moses Malone and Allen Iverson, to name a few, Embiid's teams didn't advance past the second round of the playoffs. And while Embiid has struggled with injuries and illness in the postseason, he's not the only one. Here's a thought: Be in better shape when the playoffs roll around and it won't be as difficult to play with any injuries.

Additionally, Embiid earned $215 million in his first ten seasons for playing in just 54% of regular season games.

He earns more than $600,000 per game. For example, if he misses the first 10 games, that's more than $6 million – to get back in shape. Oh yeah, the team is 1-3 and was just coached at home by the formerly winless Pistons.

This is not about criticizing a player with a chronic injury. This is a player with a chronic injury who chose himself over his team.

He admitted it on Friday:

“If you have the chance to compete for a gold medal for the USA and your country, you can't miss it. I don't care what anyone says. This is simply something you cannot miss. …To be honest, I didn't do anything. Basically, I was there. I had my little moment.”

Embiid had two months after the Olympics to prepare and he didn't. Additionally, Embiid chose to compete in the Olympics, so he would have had four months to prepare. He chose not to be ready.

It's that simple. If you're okay with that, then good for you because you won't feel the frustration that, it's safe to say, most Sixers fans are feeling at this moment. No matter how much you downplay the impact of participating in the Olympics (he says it didn't affect him), it's absurd to think it had no impact at all.

Without Embiid, Team USA would have won the gold medal. Embiid played in the Olympics with Team USA — not France, whose citizenship he also holds — because he wanted a gold medal on his resume. It didn't help the Sixers. It didn't help Team USA. It helped Joel Embiid.

And he admitted it.

As far as load management goes, there's no reason Embiid couldn't be both ready for the start of the regular season and healthy for the playoffs. None.

In the grand scheme of things, it may not matter that Embiid is unavailable – for what? A third of the team's games? It may not matter because the bigger picture includes scenarios where he is healthier for the playoffs. But again, there is no reason why he can't play in October and November and still be fit and healthy enough to play in May and June.

The reality is this: he doesn't think he has to play, he doesn't want to play at the moment and therefore won't play. That's the Sixers' reality for the next five seasons, at a cost of $300 million because they just gave him a three-year, $193 million extension.

To be clear: This is money that you, the fans, pay because you pay for the tickets, the parking, the beer, and because you watch the shows that make the networks willing to spend billions on TV rights.

Good for him that he finally faces the music on Friday.

Shame on him for not taking full responsibility for his actions and inaction.