The Philadelphia 76ers may be about to pull the plug on their season, starting with the status of center Joel Embiid.
Embiid and the 76ers are consulting doctors to consider alternatives for the center’s knee injury, according to Shams Charania of ESPN. Both sides are admitting that their current efforts to address Embiid’s knee injury have not made a difference.
It is unclear what, specifically, Embiid and the Sixers might do at this point. However, this would seem to suggest there is a serious risk of the center missing more time in the weeks to come.
Notably, Embiid sat out the entire fourth quarter of Saturday’s game against the Brooklyn Nets, even though the game went down to the wire. He finished with just 14 points in 31 minutes of action.
After the game, 76ers coach Nick Nurse openly admitted that Embiid is “not himself” and is “giving us what he can.”
The news on Embiid’s health has been consistently bad for some time now. The center recently suggested he will likely need another surgery on his troublesome left knee, though he has been trying to put it off until the offseason.
The Sixers do not sound like they want to shut Embiid down. However, they are now 20-36 after Saturday’s loss, and appear to be heading for a lost season. The team simply does not have much to gain from running him out there at this point.
By his lofty standards, Embiid has been a shell of himself this season. He is averaging 23.8 points and 8.2 rebounds per game, and is on track for his worst campaign since his first full NBA season in 2016-17.
