Joel Embiid on his 37% shooting start: ‘Quite frankly, I just haven’t been aggressive,’ and he wants Anfernee Simons to shoot every time

Joel Embiid is shooting 37% from the field and has made four of his 33 threes, and on Thursday morning he said the problem starts with him. “Quite frankly, I just haven’t been aggressive,” the Philadelphia 76ers center said after shootaround. “And so I think it’s on me to just be aggressive about making plays, whether scoring or making plays for someone else.”

Embiid is questionable for Thursday’s game against the Toronto Raptors at 7 p.m. ET, which is 2 a.m. Friday in Cairo, with what the team lists as right plantar fascia injury management. Asked whether he would play, he said, “I have no idea.”

Today after Sixers morning shootaround, Joel Embiid said, “Quite frankly, I just haven’t been aggressive. And so I think it’s on me to just be aggressive about making plays, whether scoring or making plays for someone else.”

Joel is questionable for Sixers-Raptors tonight… pic.twitter.com/mFKPiNqI12

— Dave Uram (@MrUram) November 12, 2026

Embiid after the 76ers’ shootaround on Thursday. Video posted by Dave Uram on X.

The worst shooting start of his career

Through 10 games, Embiid is averaging 17.7 points, 9.3 rebounds and 3.8 assists in 31.8 minutes. He has made 54 of 146 shots, or 37.0%, and 4 of 33 threes, or 12.1%. His lowest field-goal percentage for a full season before this was 44.4% in 2024-25, when he played 19 games, and he has never shot below 46.6% in any other season. The 17.7 points would be the lowest average of his career; he scored 20.2 a game as a rookie in 2016-17.

The last three games have been the hardest. Embiid went 0-of-9 in a 119-95 loss in Cleveland on Nov. 6, shot 7-of-19 for 18 points in a win over Chicago two days later, and went 2-of-9 for 16 points in Tuesday’s 123-101 home loss to Boston, when he got to the free-throw line 13 times. That is 9-of-37 over three games. He has been more reliable at the line, where he is 65-of-73 for the season.

Nick Nurse has said the foot can be very sore and painful at times, John Clark noted, and Embiid called his season “a work in progress.” Philadelphia is still 9-3, and 8-2 in the games he has played.

‘I’m not ball-dominant’

Embiid was asked whether a starting lineup with several players who like to have the ball in their hands makes it harder to find shots. He did not agree with the premise. “I’m not ball-dominant,” he said, adding that Tyrese Maxey can play off the ball.

He said Philadelphia has connectors in himself and LeBron James, players who can make the right play and pass the ball to make the game easy for Maxey and Jaylen Brown. That is why he put the slow start on himself: the 76ers need him to be aggressive, whether that means taking the shot or making the pass.

The same message for Anfernee Simons

Embiid gave the same advice to Anfernee Simons, who has scored in double figures five times in 12 games. “He’s finding his way, but just got to be aggressive,” Embiid said. “When he’s on the court, we want him to be aggressive. We want him to shoot it every time he touches it. So just come in, make or miss, we got your back.”

Simons is averaging 9.7 points while shooting 39.8% overall and 39.1% from three. He went 2-of-9 in about 45 minutes over three games from Nov. 4 to Nov. 8, then scored 17 on 7-of-13 shooting against Boston. Embiid said he has not had many chances to share the court with Simons yet, and that his goal when they do is to get the guards open so they can do what they do best.

Joel Embiid on Anfernee Simons: “He’s finding his way, but just got to be aggressive. When he's on the court, we want him to be aggressive. We want him to shoot it every time he touches it.” #Sixers pic.twitter.com/U4VVdPSyXg

— Ky Carlin (@Ky_Carlin) November 12, 2026

Embiid on Simons after shootaround. Video posted by Ky Carlin on X.

A tired Toronto team next

The 76ers face a Raptors team playing the second night of a back-to-back. Toronto lost 98-93 in Boston on Wednesday after leading by 22, playing without Kawhi Leonard, Scottie Barnes and Trayce Jackson-Davis. LeBron James also went through shootaround and is questionable with low back and sciatica management. For every Thursday update, read: Stephen Curry has an oblique abdominal tear, and Joel Embiid and LeBron James go through shootaround.