Joel Embiid has yet to step on the court for the 76ers this season due to “left knee injury management.”
Embiid stepped up Friday and discussed what that meant amid reports that he is playing 5-on-5 and close to returning. His quote, via Noah Levick of NBC Sports Philadelphia.
“I had surgery in February or whenever that was, and I did come back early to fight for the team and to play [in the playoffs], try to give us a chance,” Embiid said. “Unfortunately, we lost [to the Knicks]. And then I had time to recover. I’ve really still been managing since the last surgery.
“Just managing and trying to figure out the best approach, but I feel pretty good. I’ve started doing some live stuff and it feels pretty good, so I should be back pretty soon.”
Embiid went further, calling the narrative from some in Philly that he doesn’t want to play “b*******,” via Kyle Nuebeck of @PHLY_sports.
“When I see people saying, he doesn’t want to play, I’ve done way too much for this city putting myself at risk for people to be saying that. I do think it’s b*******. Like that dude, he’s not here, Marcus, I’ve done way too much for this f****** city to be treated like this.”
Embiid has played through a lot of injuries in the past, including during last playoffs, it’s
easy to see why insinuating he wants to sit out wouldn’t go over well with him. That said, the “left knee injury management” phrasing was enough to get the NBA to investigate whether Embiid was healthy enough to play but was being held out for load management — they determined the knee issue was legitimate (then fined the 76ers $100,000 for their comments around Embiid and keeping him healthy for the playoffs).
The 76ers need him and fellow injured star Paul George (knee bone bruise) back soon just to fall too far behind in the East (both are still listed as out for Saturday night against Ja Morant and the Grizzlies). After the Memphis, Philadelphia heads out on the road for a tough three against Phoenix then both Los Angeles teams, even with their stars back it could take a while to turn this ship around.
