Throughout the past nine years, the Philadelphia 76ers’ championship aspirations have only gone as far as Joel Embiid could take them, and that couldn’t have been more evident this season. Due to lingering left knee issues, Embiid only appeared in 19 games of the year, and in those contests, he never looked like his dominant self. As a result, Philadelphia shut him down for the rest of the season. One month later, we’re yet to receive an update regarding his treatment, so what gives?
How did the 76ers get to this point?
Heading into this season, the 76ers were determined to aggressively load-manage Embiid, so he’d be fully healthy heading into the playoffs. However, to the surprise of many, he missed Philadelphia’s first ten games due to “left knee injury management” and a three-game suspension, which caused it to start the season with a 2-8 record.
The 76ers were unable to dig out of that hole as they’re now 23-50 and never reached .500 throughout the season. Philadelphia’s lottery-bound record also marks the first time it will finish a season with 50 or more losses since the 2016-17 campaign. Embiid’s inability to stay on the floor for more than a three to four-game stretch mixed with numerous injuries to other 76ers players such as Paul George and Jared McCain, the 76ers were unable to build cohesion.
Philadelphia’s star trio of Embiid, George, and Tyrese Maxey only played 15 games together this season and won only seven of them. The 76ers’ downward spiral reached its pinnacle on February 28th when they ruled Embiid out for the rest of the season, which essentially altered their focus on retaining their 2025 first-round pick. Philadelphia issued a statement that revealed Embiid was medically unable to play and he’ll focus on treatment and rehabilitation.
Nick Nurse breaks the silence
Since then, the 76ers have yet to provide any further update on Embiid’s status, which has made fans a bit worrisome and anxious. Some fans were even questioning what would happen to the 76ers if Embiid was medically unable to finish out the rest of his career. Ahead of Philadelphia’s 119-114 loss to the Washington Wizards, Nick Nurse broke the radio silence:
“There's still discussions, but again, I think it's probably not that far away. I don't know what the timeline is to get a decision made. I think, again, there's lots of people he’s seeing and talking to lots of information that they're gathering, and just want to absolutely be as thorough as possible, and get every option on the table and then figure out where they go from there,” via Ky Carlin of Sixers Wire.
It would be ideal if we received an update on Embiid’s treatment plan shortly, but there are two outlooks fans can have on this situation. On one hand, it’s comforting that Embiid and Philadelphia are being thorough and not rushing to make a decision considering the severity of his left knee troubles. However, it can be worrisome that a conclusion is yet to be made, especially since Embiid has likely met with some of the top specialists in the world.