NBA legends Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley have slammed Philadelphia 76ers superstar Joel Embiid for claiming he may never play in back-to-back games again.

The 30-year-old center and 2023 NBA MVP has had his fair share of injury struggles over the years, and it has hampered his ability to fire the Sixers deep into the postseason and compete for the championship. In his bid to stay fit throughout the duration of the season, Embiid has claimed he may never play back-to-back games again in order to protect himself.

“If I had to guess, I would probably never play back-to-backs the rest of my career,” Embiid told ESPN. However, that decision has drawn criticism from NBA legends Shaq and Barkley, who claim the league is not physical enough for Embiid to pick and choose which games he plays.

“I was so disappointed in Joel [Embiid] saying he wasn’t gonna play back-to-back games,” Barkley said on TNT. “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.”

“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,” Shaq added. “You don’t get flagrant fouled. There’s no reason to say ‘I’m not playing back-to-back,'” he continued.

Andre Drummond returned to the Sixers in the offseason, reuniting with Embiid. Barkley says his move back to Philadelphia was one of the most underrated of the offseason.

Shaq and Barkley expressed their disappointment

Shaq and Barkley expressed their disappointment ( 

Image:

Getty)

“And he doesn’t have to play a lot of minutes, because they got the best backups in the league,” Barkley said. “You know, I’m a big Drummond fan. If you’re playing back-to-back say, ‘Hey guys, I’m only gonna play 25 minutes this night.’ Because Drummond to me. He’s [the] underrated pick-up by the Sixers.”

Philadelphia will start their 2024/25 campaign against the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday night. Embiid and Paul George will both miss the season opener. Embiid did not play in the preseason because of a sore left knee, while George is suffering from a bone bruise.

The Sixers signed free agent George in the offseason to a four-year, $ 212 million contract. Luckily for the Sixers and George, he did not suffer any structural damage.