Philadelphia 76ers star center and reigning NBA MVP Joel Embiid suffered a left knee injury late in their loss to the Golden State Warriors Tuesday evening.
Embiid was injured after a scramble for the ball with Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga, who landed hard on the center’s left knee. This came after Embiid missed the previous two game with knee soreness.
Philadelphia head coach Nick Nurse indicated after the game that the two injuries are not related. He also told reporters that Embiid would undergo an MRI on Wednesday.
While we don’t have results of said MRI, the update ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski provided is not great. According to the NBA insider, Embiid will not play Thursday night against the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City. Instead, he’ll head back to Philadelphia to receive further tests. This seems to suggest tests were either non-conclusive or showed something that requires a further looking into.
- Joel Embiid stats (2023-24): 35.3 PPG, 11.3 RPG, 53% shooting
It’s clear that Embiid was not 100% against the Warriors Tuesday night. He shot just 5-of-18 from the field, finishing minus-21 in 30 minutes of action. That’s not the Embiid we’ve become accustomed to over the years.
Joel Embiid playing through injuries to quiet critics
All of this comes amid a stretch that has seen Embiid miss nine of the 76ers’ past 18 games due to injury. One report now suggests that Philadelphia believes the big man is playing through injuries due to the scrutiny he continues to receive.
“Embiid, who missed Philadelphia’s game at Portland on Monday night, looked like a player who pushed himself to play against Golden State because the whole basketball world was screaming in his ear. There are people within the Sixers who are convinced that he played only because of all the scrutiny.”
Report from The Athletic’s Sam Amick on Embiid
We have no idea what the extent of Embiid’s current injury is. What we do know is that Philadelphia will need him healthy down the stretch of the regular season and in the playoffs if the team wants to be considered a legitimate NBA title contender.
The 76ers find themselves at 29-17 on the season after an 18-7 start. They are a mere 19-19 when Embiid does not suit up since the start of the 2021-22 season. Regardless of outside noise, it has to be all about getting Embiid right moving forward.