After an incredibly exciting start to the season for Joel Embiid, the Philadelphia 76ers recently announced he will not play the rest of the year.
The Philadelphia 76ers announced last Friday that top overall pick from the 2016 NBA Draft, Ben Simmons, would not play at all this season following a medical scan that he recently underwent to evaluate whether or not his Jones Fracture in his foot was healing.
The scan revealed less than promising results, prompting the team to sit him for the entire season. The hope is that he will return for Summer League and the regular season next year.
This year, however, was Joel Embiid’s year, with Simmons out. But now, that year is over.
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We really expected the team to announce this sooner than later, because with only around 20 games remaining, and Embiid having been nursing a bone bruise and a slight meniscus tear, there wasn’t too much reason to risk him getting injured even more, even if he was healthy.
The team officially announced on Wednesday afternoon via a press release that Embiid would be downgraded in medical status to out for the year.
The team also revealed that the bone bruise is much better, but that the meniscus tear got worse, or at least is worse than the team previously was aware. Doctor Jonathon Glashow had this to say in the team’s recent press release:
"“The assessment of Monday’s follow-up MRI of Joel Embiid’s left knee appears to reveal that the area affected by the bone bruise has improved significantly, while the previously identified meniscus tear appears more pronounced in this most recent scan”"
This is, overall, upsetting, but the hope is that Embiid will be back at full strength and ready to rock next season when it starts. That said, Embiid’s teammate, Jahlil Okafor, had a slightly torn meniscus to end the year last year, and wasn’t back for quite a while leading up to this season.
The biggest bummer about this season is that Embiid probably has a much lower chance at winning Rookie of the Year now that he won’t play the rest of the year, and he only has 31 games under his belt.
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Still, in those games, he’s been impressive. Embiid is averaging 20.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game. He shot 46.6 percent from the field and 36.7 percent from beyond the arc. HE might still be deserving of the award, and could very well win it.
What an incredible season this was for Embiid. But now, it’s over, and the tank is truly on.