A certain former NBA player has urged Philadelphia 76ers superstar Joel Embiid to step back for some of his teammates who have become bona fide stars. On Tuesday, Jan. 6, @NBA__Courtside’s X/Twitter released a clip of Austin Rivers, the son of Milwaukee Bucks coach Doc Rivers, from a recent episode of his “The Off Guard” podcast.
Rivers believes that, despite the franchise’s reputation of coming up short, the 76ers can go on a deep run in the 2026 playoffs with the rise of the likes of All-Star Tyrese Maxey and rookie VJ Edgecombe. He added that this can only work if Embiid can accept being the second lead for the first time in his career.
“The key for Philly for this thing to work, and this is most important, what I wanna say is, Joel, can you buy into being consistently option number two, without drama? Can you do it big fella? You’ve been option one for a long time that you had a very successful run here. You’re an MVP, man. You’re an MVP in the city of Philadelphia. The last guy that did that was a guy named Allen Iverson,” Rivers explained.
“You’re gonna be iconic in the city forever, despite whatever anybody tries to take away from Joel. You won an MVP in an era where Nikola Jokic just had a chokehold on the NBA. You got to give him his respect. You’ve had a great run. You were the guy who started to trust the process. That process has been going on for a long, long time now. That process is kind of over now. You’re still very good. So, I don’t need 30 and 15 from you, big fella,” he continued.
Austin Rivers says 76ers could go on a run in the playoffs
“The key for this thing to work can Joel buy in to being option number 2. You had a great run you were the guy that started trust the process. That process is over. It’s Maxey time now he is a superstar”
(Via… pic.twitter.com/Ey9mvurVtD
— NBA Courtside (@NBA__Courtside) January 6, 2026
Embiid, 31, is currently uncorking his 10th season in the NBA in the 2025-26 campaign. He has spent all of his career so far with coach Nick Nurse’s 76ers. Embiid’s career has been plagued by injuries. His best season came in the 2022-23 campaign, where he won the regular season MVP award.
Read More: ‘Yes to This Young Man’: 76ers Fans Wholeheartedly Welcomes Baylor Guard VJ Edgecombe Following 2025 NBA Draft Success
Austin Rivers Opined That Paul George Can Step Back Into Option Three Role
Another superstar in the Philadelphia 76ers roster who is presumably aging and is no longer in his prime is 2019 NBA regular season MVP runner-up Paul George. George is also back in the fray this season after missing significant time last year due to injury. But with the ascension of the aforementioned Philly guards, Austin Rivers believes that George can be an option three or four.
“ You start to think about, okay, well Paul George is now actually healthy. He doesn’t have the toll and pressure on him to go be the guy or a star anymore. Those days are kind of done. He’s not even chasing All-Star games anymore. So at this point, he gets to settle into this nice role and be like an option three because of Maxey’s resurgence, because of their overall depth chart, and because most importantly, VJ Edgecombe, as a rookie, providing net-like 16 to 20 points per game scoring every single night,” Rivers said.
Also Read: Is Saniya Rivers Related to Doc Rivers? Here Is What We Know
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