Philadelphia 76ers, Joel Embiid (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
The regular season is slowly creeping up on NBA fans and for the Philadelphia 76ers fans, the prospect that the Sixers can be a dominant franchise is exciting. The team will be led by big man Joel Embiid who’s one of the dominant players in the league.
That doesn’t mean that Embiid is completely unstoppable as an offensive force. There have been players or teams that have proven to be able to cause Embiid issues in the past. Until this past postseason, the Toronto Raptors were the main obstacle for the big man.
With that in mind, there are three teams that might be able to provide Embiid with some issues during the regular season.
3 teams that can bother Embiid: Orlando Magic
Let’s make something clear, the Orlando Magic are still a few years away from being a playoff team in the Eastern Conference. However, that doesn’t mean that they won’t be a fun team to watch on NBA League pass this season.
They have a plethora of lottery picks on their roster, including two former first overall picks in Paolo Banchero and former Sixers guard Markelle Fultz. The reason that they are on this list is the sheer size of their roster.
They have seven players who are 6-foot-9 or taller. Five of those players are projected to be in their rotation in Wendell Carter Jr., Jonathan Isaac, Franz Wagner, Mo Bamba, and Banchero. That’s a lot of size that the Orlando can through at Embiid in terms of double-teams.
If Magic head coach Jamahl Mosely can have the team focus on defense this season, Orlando has the potential to be one of the best teams in that regard. That in itself would make offense tough for Embiid in that matchup.
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