Philadelphia 76ers centre Joel Embiid will miss the remainder of the regular season as he and the team explore options to address his troublesome left knee.
Despite trying to play through the pain, Embiid’s knee has degraded to a point where it no longer makes sense for him to continue to push through and risk further injury. The team has consulted with dozens of specialists over the last few months to determine the best course of action, but the swelling continues to be a factor.
This, combined with the fact that the Sixers are a lowly 20-38 on the season, and losers of 9 straight contests, led the front office to determine that there was no point in continuing to risk long term damage with their franchise big man. Only the Raptors, Hornets and Wizards currently have worse records than Philadelphia in the Eastern Conference.
The timing of Embiid being shutdown could help the Sixers chances of retaining their 1st round pick in the upcoming NBA Draft. Their 2025 selection is top 6 protected, otherwise it conveys to Oklahoma City. With Philadelphia continuing to free fall in the East, they currently own the 6th worst record across the NBA.
The “Big 3” of Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Paul George have combined to suit up for only 15 contests together all season. During that time, they’ve gone a combined 7-8.
Fans and local media alike have questioned the recovery timeline for the 7 footer following meniscus surgery back in February. Embiid returned to the court in April for the 76ers playoff run, and then took part in the Olympics with Team USA, helping them to capture gold in the process.
However, heading into the 2024-25 campaign, it became evident that the 30 year old likely would have benefited from additional recovery time, as he began the season on shaky ground health wise, and has been in and out of the lineup ever since.
All in all, Embiid has suited up for only 19 games on the season, averaging 30.2 minutes per night. A figure which would be his lowest minutes total since the 2019-20 campaign. During that time he’s averaged 23.8pts/8.2reb/0.9blk/4.5ast per game, all well below what fans have come to expect from the former league MVP.
With the team well outside the playoff picture, and Embiid shutdown for the season, it looks like Philly fans will have to revel in the Eagles Super Bowl triumph a bit longer to get them through the rest of the winter.
Photo: Clement Bardot. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.