Charles Barkley has reacted to the Philadelphia 76ers’ load management of star Joel Embiid after his claim about game time.

The 30-year-old center has been struggling with injury over the past few years, and his unavailability and failure to consistently play at full fitness has hampered his ability to help fire the Sixers deep into the postseason and compete for a first championship since 1983.

In his effort to stave off injuries, Embiid claimed he may never play back-to-back games again in order to give himself as much chance to appear for the Sixers at the pinnacle moments in their season. “If I had to guess, I would probably never play back-to-backs the rest of my career,” he told ESPN.

However, his decision drew criticism from NBA legends, including Shaquille O’Neal and Barkley. “I don’t have any idea what the Sixers are doing. I don’t think it’s fair. I want to get this number right because this is crazy,” Barkley said.

“And bless the kid, number one. He just signed on for three years, $193 million. To play basketball. We’re not steelworkers. We’re not nurses. People who got, like, real jobs who work 40-50 hours a week. We’re playing basketball, at the most, four days a week, most of the time, three days a week.

“He has the best backup in the league in (Andre) Drummond. Jason Kidd and Shaq know this. (Embiid) should say: ‘I’m not playing 25 minutes or the second night, or back-to-back, or Drummond plays. But to come out and say it in advance was a stupidity by the Sixers. Period.”

Joel Embiid

Joel Embiid made claims about his game time with the 76ers ( 

Image:

Getty Images)

Barkley had previously expressed his disappointment in Embiid over his claims on TNT. “I was so disappointed in Joel [Embiid] saying he wasn’t gonna play back-to-back games,” Barkley said. “Ernie, you’re the best – you’re one of the three or four or five best players in the world. You cannot say as a leader of that team, I’m not gonna play certain games. That’s not the way to start the season. Now, if you start the season, you [may] get some bumps and bruises.

“But as the best player on that team and the leader, I would never go into a season saying I’m not gonna play back-to-back games. I thought that was a bad message I was very disappointed in Joel Embiid.”

O’Neal also added his take. “And not only that, it doesn’t make sense. The league isn’t that physical for him to say that he’s a picking popper,” he said. “You don’t get flagrant fouled. There’s no reason to say ‘I’m not playing back-to-back’”.

Philadelphia lost their 2024/25 campaign against the Milwaukee Bucks 124-109 on Wednesday night. Embiid missed the season opener after not playing in pre-season because of a sore left knee.