It is Groundhog Day all over again for Joel Embiid.
The Philadelphia 76ers star center Embiid had to leave Game 5 against the Boston Celtics on Tuesday due to an apparent knee injury. In the third quarter at TD Garden in Boston, Mass., Embiid rotated over to defend a drive by Boston’s Jaylen Brown.
The two players appeared to bump knees, and Embiid seemed to get to the worst of it. He immediately grabbed at his left knee in pain, and the 76ers had to take a timeout as a result.
Embiid would end up leaving the game and going straight to the locker room. Here is the video of his injury.
Joel Embiid bumped kness with Jaylen Brown and he is hurt.
— Italo Santana (@BulletClubIta) April 29, 2026
Just went back to the Sixers locker room. pic.twitter.com/IKs4V5Iwq1
The former NBA MVP Embiid, now 32, had just returned in Game 4 of the series after missing roughly two-and-a-half weeks while recovering from an emergency appendectomy. But now Embiid is injured again, and the left knee is of extra concern as well since that is the knee that has given him so many problems since a 2024 meniscus tear (even being described several months ago as a “debilitating” issue).
Philadelphia was facing elimination on Tuesday, entering play down 3-1 to the Celtics in their first-round series. Embiid also recently had an evasive response to questions about his future with the 76ers, and now the uncertainty may be reaching a crescendo with yet another left knee injury to the seven-footer.
