The Philadelphia 76ers have announced that the star center Joel Embiid should undergo an arthroscopic operation next week on his annoying left knee.
Embiid will be reassessed in six weeks, a team official told Shams Charania d’Espn, and that Embiid should be completely recovered.
In recent weeks, the 76ers and Embiid have worked towards a solution for knee problems that have rekindled it for over a year, and have excluded it for the season at the end of February. These consultations with doctors and specialists have finally led to Embiid’s decision to undergo surgery, hope being that he can return to the level he had played in previous seasons.
“The way I played a year ago is not the way I play right now,” said Embiid after a defeat of 124-104 against Boston in February, shortly before being closed for the season. “It sucks. … I probably need to solve the problem, then I will be back at this level. But it is difficult to have confidence when you are not yourself.”
Embiid finished with averages of 23.8 points, 8.2 rebounds and 4.5 assists in just 19 games this season for Philadelphia, while showing at no time the type of form he had in the previous two seasons, when he won the most precious prize in the NBA in 2023 and was at the rate of the second season of Wilt Chamberlain. Kuminga accidentally fell on his leg in a match in San Francisco in January 2024.
He had a knee procedure last February and returned in April before the playoffs, where he has an average of 33 points, 10.8 rebounds and 5.7 assists in what has become a defeat of six games against the New York Knicks in the first round of the playoffs.
Embiid then played with the United States team at the Paris Olympic Games, but for much of the summer, he struggled to play an important role in the Fourth quarter of the American team against Serbia during the semi-final match of the tournament.
But after he and the team entered the season with championship aspirations, and with a plan to manage Embiid throughout the regular season by not playing him in consecutive matches, he then missed the start of the regular season for the 76ers after his knee did not respond as he hoped when he returned to the team. He finally returned on November 12 against the Knicks playing four games before missing a few more weeks, then sat for a month with knee and foot problems in January before returning for his last visit to the season in February.
It was a disastrous season not only for Embiid, but the 76ers as a whole. The acquisition of the valuable free agent of the team, Paul George, was also closed for the season and had his own difficulties through the campaign, with an average of 16.2 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.8 interceptions while pulling 43% in total and 35% of the range at 3 points – all considerably down his number with the Clippers in recent seasons.
The star goalkeeper Tyrese Maxey also had trouble with his shooting, displaying a brand of 43.7% in total in career and 33.7% out of 3 – his lowest number since his recruit year – while playing in 52 games, and potentially made for the season with his own set of diseases. And Jared McCain was easily the main competitor of the recruit of the year he underwent a torn meniscus in December and also saw his season interrupted by injury.
The hope of Philadelphia will now be that all this loss will allow the 76ers to keep their choice of first round, which is the top 6 protected in the draft of the NBA of this year. If he remains in the top six, Philadelphia will keep him. If it is 7 to 30 years old, he will go to Oklahoma City Thunder as part of the Al Horford-Danny Green Exchange five years ago.
Upon entering Thursday’s home match against the Milwaukee Bucks, Philadelphia has lost nine consecutive games, 15 of his last 17 and 26 of his last 30 – putting the 76ers in fifth place in the lottery classification, two games in front of the Brooklyn Nets in sixth. This means that two teams should, at least today, skip the 76ers in the ranking so that Philadelphia will lose its choice, and the 76ers are about 65% of chances to keep it.
The hope will not only be to hang on to this choice and to add another young player with a height to the list, but also to recover the collection of injured players next season, and to try once again to be a team capable of being a factor in the eliminatory series of the Eastern Conference.
These hopes, however, will start and end with the health of Embiid, because he is still four years old and more than $ 200 million on his contract with the 76ers.
