James Harden is thinner and Joel Embiid is healthier as Sixers prepare to contend this season

A lot has been made of the 76ers’ offseason acquisitions and the improved all-around play of guard Matisse Thybulle. But the team’s success may still rely heavily on the play of All-Star cornerstones Joel Embiid and James Harden.

Embiid and Harden have to play well and remain healthy for the Sixers to reach this season’s goal of becoming an NBA champion.

So far, they’re off to a solid start.

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Both players are healthy after dealing with injuries last season. Harden had a lingering hamstring ailment while Embiid suffered an orbital fracture near his right eye and tore a ligament in his right thumb during the first-round playoff series against the Toronto Raptors. Embiid had surgery on his thumb and a procedure on his left index finger this offseason.

“They had a great summer,” coach Doc Rivers said Monday of Harden and Embiid. “Both of them. … James put in a lot of work this summer. So, yeah, we are happy where everybody is right now.”

Harden’s offseason was well documented as he worked to get his body close to where it was during his days as a three-time scoring champion with the Houston Rockets. His offseason workouts and open runs were hits on social media. So was the listed 6-foot-5, 220-pounder’s noticeable weight loss.

“At this point, it was just dieting and proper rest,” Harden said of the weight loss. “And for me, I just think strengthening my muscles, getting more muscle mass, which I always had.

“This last year-and-a-half, I really wasn’t healthy enough to put the proper work in like I’m used to. This summer was huge for me in that aspect.”

Initially asked how much weight he lost, Harden responded, “100 pounds.”

Asked a second time, he responded, “100 pounds. Tweet that.”

While he joked about his appearance, Harden was straight-up about last season’s individual frustration.

He had more subpar shooting nights than solid ones. He lost a step and lacked some of the explosiveness he displayed as a Rocket.

Some of it was the result of the left hamstring tightness that sidelined Harden for most of February.

The Sixers acquired Harden on Feb. 10 via trade with the Brooklyn Nets to help deliver an NBA title. But the perennial All-NBA selection had been slowed by his hamstring since forcing a trade from the Rockets to the Nets on Jan. 13, 2021.

He missed 21 of the Nets’ final 24 regular-season games with a right hamstring strain during the 2020-21 season. Harden returned in the opening-round playoff series against the Boston Celtics and played in all five games.

“Mentally it was every difficult, because I’m in love with the game of basketball,” Harden said of the last two seasons. “[Even] if the money wasn’t involved, I’d be playing basketball. And I think before the injury, everybody knows that.

“So it was very difficult. A lot of tough times, a lot of dark moments, which I never really went through when I was healthy and playing the game of basketball.”

But Harden’s in a good place right now and feels he’s back to where should be basketball-wise.

Meanwhile, Embiid is coming off consecutive seasons as MVP-runner-up.

“Whatever happens, happens,” he said of the MVP award. “That’s something I’m not worried about it at all. All I’m worried about is having the best team in the league, because if we win games, everything is going to take care of itself.”

So his focus is on the Sixers being the NBA’s best defensive team. Offensively, he thinks the Sixers can easily figure out how to be successful.

Still, a lot of their success will be centered on his pairing with Harden. Last season, the duo had instant chemistry.

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At times, they were close to unstoppable in pick-and-rolls.

“We know what we have to build,” Embiid said. “But I’ll say our focus is on defense.”

He stressed that having the league’s best defense will take more than just him and Harden.

“I’ve got to get back to not waiting till the fourth [quarter] to be that guy,” Embiid said. “And then doing it all game. And then, we also need him to be as aggressive as possible. And we’ve got the pieces.”

There will be a lot of attention paid to how Harden bounces back from the worst shooting performance of his career.

The 14th-year veteran shot a career lows of field goal percentage (.402) and three-point percentage (.326) during his 21 games as a Sixer. But he looks at that as just a small sample size in what could be a solid stint with the Sixers.

“Me, personally, coming here last year, end of the season, 21 games, I feel like this is my first full year,” Harden said. “I’m excited.”

Furkan Korkmaz revealed Monday that he started experiencing nerve damage in his hand around the All-Star break last season, causing him to lose some sensation in his fingers. He said it impacted his shot.

The reserve guard said the injury was identified over the summer. He spent two months rehabilitating it.