Skip to content
Sixers
Link copied to clipboard

Sixers pick up team options on Noel, Embiid, Stauskas

This comes as no surprise.

The 76ers exercised team options on Nerlens Noel, Joel Embiid and Nik Stauskas Friday morning. This confirms a report by The Inquirer that this action would happen. The move keeps the three players under contract through the 2016-17 season.

Noel is slotted to make around $4,384,490 the season due to being the sixth overall pick by the New Orleans Pelicans in the 2013 NBA draft. He was traded to the Sixers on draft night.

Embiid, who was the third overall pick by the Sixers in 2014, will make  $4,826,160. Meanwhile,  Stauskas will make $2,993,040. He was the 8th overall pick in the 2014 draft by the Sacramento Kings.  The Sixers acquired him in June via a trade.

Noel had 14 points and a game-high 12 rebounds in Wednesday's  112-95 season-opening loss to the Boston Celtics

The 6-foot-11, 223-pound post player Noel is averaging 9.9 points and leads all rookies in rebounds (8.1 per game), steals (1.77), and blocked shots (1.89). He's also the only NBA player ranked in the top 10 in blocked shots (eighth) and steals (ninth).

In addition, Noel joins Hall of Famer David Robinson as the only rookies in NBA history to average 1.50 steals and 1.5 blocks.

Embiid has yet to play for the Sixers since being drafted.

He had bone-graft surgery to repair the navicular bone in his right foot in August. The 7-foot center will miss the entire season. The former Kansas has already missed what would have been his rookie season after undergoing surgery in June 2014 to repair a stress fracture in the same bone. A setback in his recovery process led to the second operation.

Stauskas is probable for Friday night's game after missing the season-opener with back spasms and  the preseason with a stress reaction in his right tibia.

He looks to bounce back from a rough rookie campaign in Sacramento, averaging 4.4 points and shooting 36.5 percent.  The 6-6, 205-pounder made 48 of 149 three-pointers.

The Sixers hope long-range shooters Stauskas and Robert Covington on the wing, things should open up inside for Jahlil Okafor and Noel.

Follow and contact Inquirer 76ers beat writer Keith Pompey on Twitter @PompeyOnSixer and on Instagram @PompeyOnSixers