Philadelphia 76ers star and reigning NBA MVP Joel Embiid last suited up in a game against the Golden State Warriors back on Jan. 30.
That game saw Embiid suffer a knee injury, one in which he’d have meniscus surgery on roughly a week later. For Philadelphia, it’s been completely down hill since Embiid went down. Including Tuesday night’s loss to the Boston Celtics, the team is 4-8 since Embiid went down.
With that said, there might be some good news on this front. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski indicated on Tuesday that “there’s some hope that they can get him (Embiid) back on the court some time in late March.”
The timeline for Embiid’s potential return from injury is crucial as it relates to the 76ers’ hopes in the NBA Playoffs. A late-March return could give him more than six games in the regular season to ramp up for playoff action.
Philadelphia takes on the Toronto Raptors on March 31. It would then have more than two weeks before the NBA Playoffs start. It’s not ideal. But it’s better than the alternative.
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Joel Embiid stats (2023-24): 35.3 PPG, 11.3 RPG, 5.7 APG, 53% shooting
When Embiid went down to injury in late-January, he was in the midst of an amazing stretch of action that saw the big man average 37.2 points in his previous 11 games. The 76ers found themselves at 8-3 during that span.
Following Tuesday’s loss to Boston, the Embiid-less Sixers sit as the mere fifth seed in the Eastern Conference. In fact, they are just a half game ahead of the Orlando Magic in hopes if avoiding the NBA Play-In Tournament.
This might be good news for Philadelphia. But the team needs to start playing better basketball until Embiid returns. If not, said return could be short-lived before they head to Cancun for the summer.