Have the Philadelphia 76ers been hiding the real truth about Joel Embiid’s injury status? The 76ers were fined $100,000 for making misleading public comments about the former MVP’s health and revealed he’s dealing with an undisclosed “left knee condition.”
The team initially said Embiid would miss the start of the regular season due to left knee management. Last season, the multiple-time All-Star underwent surgery to repair a torn lateral meniscus. Embiid played in only 39 regular season games but returned for the first round of the playoffs against the New York Knicks.
Despite the injury, Embiid was a full participant for Team USA as they won the gold medal at the Paris Olympics over the summer.
The NBA opened an investigation into the Sixers over Embiid’s player participation after he sat out the team’s nationally televised season opener against the Milwaukee Bucks.
“The NBA today fined the Philadelphia 76ers $100,000 for public statements, including by president of basketball operations Daryl Morey and head coach Nick Nurse, that were inconsistent with Joel Embiid’s health status and in violation of NBA rules, including the league’s Player Participation Policy,” the NBA said in a statement, via PHLY Sports’ Kyle Neubeck.
Here’s the NBA’s statement on the Sixers’ 100k fine: pic.twitter.com/9RAmfhJ5Ly
— Kyle Neubeck (@KyleNeubeck) October 29, 2024
The NBA’s revelation about Embiid’s knee condition surprised many.
“The league’s investigation also confirmed that Embiid has been unable to play in the 76ers’ regular season games this season due to a left knee condition, and therefore his games missed have not violated the Player Participation Policy.”
The team had consistently maintained that Embiid was dealing with load management rather than an injury. They hope to have Embiid healthy for the playoffs for the first time in his career and have indicated he likely will not play in back-to-back games this season.
Philadelphia 76ers’ Joel Embiid, Paul George still out
This comes as Embiid and fellow All-Star Paul George will miss their fourth straight game to start the year. Both players will be reassessed later in the week after participating in portions of Tuesday’s practice, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
When questioned about Embiid’s status following practice, Sixers head coach Nick Nurse, who has been left out on an island having to answer repeatedly about his star player’s health, gave a curt answer.
“I’m not going to answer,” Nurse replied. “They’ve given you the updates on that, right? They’ve given you the updates on Joel.”
Don’t think it is the best look for Nick Nurse to be testy about the Joel Embiid talking points regardless but from the way he has answered all of these questions it’s very clear to me he doesn’t seem to agree with or fully know the plan with Embiid pic.twitter.com/TaD6dNe8oM
— Sean Barnard (@Sean_Barnard1) October 29, 2024
Nurse later clarified the team’s communication with both players.
“Listen, it’s not that hard to be on the same page, right?” Nurse said, via The Philadelphia Inquirer. “We want these guys to play, and we want them to be healthy and we want them to play great. And we want them to play great all season, right?
“Then my main focus is I’ve got to do the job that I’ve got to do. I’ve got to try to get this team to play as good as it can tomorrow night. And that takes a big chunk of my focus. I’ll certainly work things in and do things as we go, but I’m just trying to concentrate on my job at hand.”
Embiid hasn’t participated in five-on-five scrimmages, and neither has George since suffering a bone bruise during a preseason game against the Detroit Pistons.
It’s not yet known when they will make their season debut.
The 1-2 Sixers will face the 0-4 Detroit Pistons on Wednesday.
Related: NBA legend Charles Barkley says Joel Embiid is ‘crapping on’ Philadelphia 76ers fans by not playing