Embiid drops 20 pounds, doesn't want to let Sixers down

Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid battled illness and knee problems during last year's playoff run and went into the offseason determined to prevent history from repeating itself.

He lost 20 pounds this summer and doesn't want to be the reason his team comes up short once again.

"I just remember thinking I let my team down," Embiid told ESPN's Brian Windhorst. "You can't control sickness or when it's going to happen. Obviously my knee was bothering me the whole second half of the season and the playoffs. But all I was thinking was what can I do to make sure I don't let my teammates down again or my team. Or the whole city basically. That was to take better of my body. To work on the stuff I never really paid attention to, and it's been going well the whole summer."

Embiid was one of the NBA's most dominant big men during the 2018-19 campaign, posting 27.5 points, 13.6 boards, and 1.9 blocks per contest across 64 regular-season appearances. However, left knee soreness forced the 25-year-old to miss eight games immediately after the All-Star break and five of the team's final seven games before the playoffs.

Embiid only missed one game during the Sixers' postseason campaign, but his playing status was consistently in doubt. The two-time All-Star struggled in Philadelphia's second-round series against the Toronto Raptors, averaging 17.6 points on 37% shooting while turning the ball over four times per game.

"My production has got to go up in the playoffs instead of going down," Embiid said. "That's why I feel like I let them down. We had a great chance of winning the whole thing. If that shot (by Leonard) hadn't gone down, you don't know what was going to happen."