It’s been a rough ride in the NBA thus far for Joel Embiid. If you could have drawn up a more terrible road map for a sad start at an NBA career, I’d like to see it. His career with the Philadelphia 76ers was supposed to start off fulfilling, as he was projected to go within at least the top five, possibly even first in his draft class. A devastating injury to his foot put a stop to that.
More from The Sixer Sense
- 3 Sixers players who could help Team USA Basketball
- 76ers 2k24 ratings: 3 most underrated players on Philadelphia roster
- 76ers head coach Nick Nurse bares lofty plans for Paul Reed this season
- Grade the Trade: 76ers swap Tobias Harris for superstar PG in mock deal
- Sixers Podcast: Danny Green returns + James Harden bombshell
Now, finally, this season he was recovering, and on his way to playing at Summer League this year, only to find out that he would need surgery yet again, and he would likely be missing all of this year. Now, the former projected top pick has not seen a game floor, two years later, still.
Fans were really caught off guard here, because as far as we knew, Embiid was feeling good, feeling like he was on his way to being ready to play.
ALSO ON SIXER SENSE: Sixers Close Out Final Summer League Game With Win
It all started a month ago, when the Sixers announced that there was some setbacks regarding Embiid and his injury. Still, it had not seemed like that big of a deal at the time. About a week ago, they also announced that he would need that surgery, and he would likely miss all of this year. Today, some even more shocking news was released as we found out that Embiid didn’t just need surgery, he needed surgery because his foot was re-fractured.
This is not what we understood was the case when the Sixers said that his foot had simply had “less healing,” than they had first thought. On 94WIP Monday morning, Bob Cooney reported that the same bone that had been fractured before was fractured again.
Cooney expressed plenty of frustration with this situation on Twitter, and made it clear he felt like the Sixers were not being completely truthful with the situation.
@JimmyForte28 Not mad. I think frustrated might be better way to say it. What's the harm in telling truth?
— Bob Cooney (@BobCooney76) July 20, 2015
Of course, we want the truth, but did the Sixers really deceive fans and media with this situation, or did they truly not know the extent of the injury? This brings up a burning question: If the Sixers did know, and did not disclose that information, was this wrong as an organization? Should they have to inform fans of this?
Plenty of fans are on either side of the matter. Some say that the team can pick and choose what they want to inform, others are very adamant that especially regarding the caliber of the player involved, they should absolutely disclose this information.
With a player like Embiid, there’s certainly a want to know what in the world is going on.
To me, it’s not that big of a deal. The Sixers told us what we needed to know, that Embiid was likely going to mis the entire season. Does it matter if his foot is fractured again? Either way, he was expected to be on the sideline for the whole year.
They also did not come out and say that Embiid’s foot wasn’t fractured at any point in time. One user on Reddit shed some light on the situation, and pointed out that it’s completely plausible that the 76ers truly didn’t know about the fracture. They explained that these types of fractures are typically smaller, and not always found right away.
All in all, the bottom line is that Embiid will not be playing this season unless he makes a miraculous recovery. It’s time to focus on next season for Embiid, and hope that this recovery goes better than the last.
Next: 2016 NBA Draft: Kris Dunn, Demetrius Jackson Lead Point Guards