On January 30, Joel Embiid went down with a left knee injury. The Philadelphia 76ers superstar hasn’t played since.
We’ve since learned that Embiid suffered a displaced flap of the meniscus in his left knee but not a complete tear of the ligament. The belief was that he’d either try and rehab the injury in an effort to come back sooner or undergo a surgical procedure that leaves him sidelined for a lengthier time.
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Joel Embiid undergoing knee surgery, recovery timetable unknown
Now we have Joel Embiid’s answer. According to Adrian Wojnarowski, the NBA’s reigning MVP will undergo left knee surgery.
Embiid’s injury recovery timeline has not been revealed, but once the procedure is completed, the 76ers should be able to provide a more accurate timeline for the return of their franchise icon.
Either way, Embiid is expected to miss an extended stretch of action. Since he’s already missed 14 games, despite being the NBA MVP frontrunner at the time of his injury, recent rule changes this past offseason mean he will not be eligible to win again due to not meeting the minimum 65-games played requirement.
While Embiid will be out for a while, it’s still possible the 76ers will get their five-time All-NBA center back before the end of the regular season. With the 76ers sitting in fifth place of the Eastern Conference standings entering NBA games today, they’ll need first-year All-Star Tyrese Maxey to shoulder even more of the scoring load the rest of the way.
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