Can Joel Embiid stay healthy? The center looks to rewrite history, as his MVP case and the Sixers’ season depend on it.

It’s always been about Joel Embiid’s availability.

Could the 76ers’ standout remain healthy? How many games would he miss? Would the five-time All-Star starter be on a minutes restriction?

A versatile and imposing big man with a high basketball IQ, no one ever questioned Embiid’s ability. The 27-year-old will go down as one of the all-time great centers to ever play this game.

He’s just had unfortunate luck in the past, suffering a major injury in each of his previous seven seasons in the NBA.

But this season has been Embiid’s most durable campaign. It must remain that way for him to win league MVP and for the Sixers to go deep into the postseason.

Embiid and the Sixers organization is aware of that. However, don’t expect him to alter his aggression in the remaining 24 games to shore up health for the postseason.

“Every single time — even when I came back from really the first three years that I missed — it never crossed my mind that I had to go easy, try to make sure that I didn’t get hurt,” Embiid said. “My mindset was always, like, just going on the court. Whatever happens happens.

“I believe in God. I pray. I’m Catholic, so I was, like, I’m just going to do my thing. I’m going to try. I’m going to do my best. Whatever happens happens [during the final 24 games]. That’s always my mindset.”

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That’s a great way to approach things as the leader of a Sixers squad (35-23) in third place of a jammed-packed Eastern Conference. They were expected to challenge for a second consecutive regular-season conference title with the addition of James Harden following the All-Star break.

The perennial All-NBA guard is scheduled to make his Sixers debut on Friday at the Minnesota Timberwolves after being acquired from the Brooklyn Nets on Feb. 10 in a blockbuster trade. Harden, a three-time scoring champion and 2018 league MVP, will provide the perimeter scorer and closer the Sixers desperately needed to pair with Embiid. On paper, Embiid and Harden are arguably the Sixers’ best duo since Hall of Famers Julius “Dr. J.” Erving and Moses Malone led the franchise to the 1983 title.

But as good as Harden, 32, is, this is Embiid’s team. He’s in the prime of his career and in the midst of a memorable offensive season. Embiid has scored 30 or more points in 26 of the 46 games he’s played this season, including nine games with at least 40 points.

He also leads the league in scoring at 29.6 points per game, outpacing the Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo (second at 29.4 points per game) and the Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James (third at 29.1 points per game). Embiid is also eighth in the league in rebounds at 11.2 per game to go along with a career-best 4.5 assists, 1.0 steal and 1.4 blocks.

But Embiid was just as dominant heading into last season’s All-Star break.

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At that time, Embiid averaged 30.2 points (second in the league behind the Washington Wizards’ Bradley Beal), 11.6 rebounds (fifth in league), 1.4 blocks, and 1.2 steals. He also scored 31 or more points in 15 of the 30 games he played at that time.

But because of injuries, his quest to win MVP, a scoring title and an NBA championship all crumbled after the All-Star break.

He missed last season’s All-Star Game and a March 11 victory over the Chicago Bulls because of COVID-19 contact tracing before suffering a game-ending left knee bone bruise on March 12 against the Wizards. That injury sidelined him for 10 games.

Embiid, who ended up missing 21 of last season’s 72 games, finished fourth in scoring at 28.5 points per game and 10th in rebounds with 10.6 per game. Missing a considerable amount of games contributed to his being a distant MVP runner-up to Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokić.

Then Embiid hyperextended his right knee in Game 4 of the Sixers’ first-round playoff series against Washington on May 31. He sat out of the final three quarters of that loss. An MRI determined that Embiid had a small lateral meniscus tear in his right knee. As a result, he was sidelined in the Sixers’ Game 5 series-clinching victory of the Wizards.

The knee appeared to hamper him at times during the Sixers’ second-round series loss to the Atlanta Hawks.

Embiid has been more durable this season and played through nagging injuries. He has missed 12 games this season. Only one of those misses coming because of injury.

He was a late scratch in the Sixers’ Dec. 13 road loss to the Memphis Grizzlies with rib soreness. Embiid missed two other games in what were scheduled rest days, and was sidelined nine games with COVID-19.

“There hasn’t been any injury that hasn’t allowed me to be on the floor,” Embiid said. “It’s been about really managing and making sure that I’m also ready for the playoffs.

“But I just want to be on the court. With the All-Star break coming up, I didn’t want to stop. Feel good. My body feels great. We’re playing well as a team. I just want to keep building every single day, so by the time we get to the playoffs we are ready.”

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The 27-year-old sat out his first two seasons because of two foot surgeries. He had season-ending surgery to repair a meniscus tear in his left knee during the 2016-17 campaign. The following year, he missed time because of an orbital bone fracture near his left eye.

Embiid missed time during the 2018-19 season with tendinitis in his left knee. During the 2019-20 season, he missed time after having surgery to repair a torn ligament in his left ring finger, due to a left shoulder sprain, and other ailments.

The orbital bone fracture sidelined him the final eight games of the 2017-18 regular season and in Games 1 and 2 of the Sixers’ opening-round playoff series with the Miami Heat. He was less than 100% in the 2019 postseason due to tendinitis. And during the 2019-20 season, Embiid twisted his left ankle with four games left in the regular season.

So he has a history of being banged up heading into the playoffs.

“Obviously, I’ve done a better job taking care of myself, and this is where it’s really going to show,” he said of the Sixers’ final 24-game stretch. “This is where I even have got to do even more to make sure that the same thing doesn’t happen this year, but I’m excited.

“We’ve got a great team. I’ve got to play every single game, so we can all play together and really figure out how to play with each other. But it’s going to be fun.”