Troubling new information surfaces about Joel Embiid’s knee injury

Jan 6, 2020; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid (21) looks on during the second quarter against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Joel Embiid is not expected to play in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Boston Celtics on Monday night, and a new report about the Philadelphia 76ers star’s knee injury has created even more concern.

Skip Bayless said on FS1’s “Undisputed” Monday morning that he was told by a reliable 76ers source that Embiid has a “small tear” in his knee. Bayless said the Sixers were confident Embiid was fine a week ago, but they have since learned his injury is more serious than initially believed.

Skip Bayless on Joel Embiid:

“I talked to my inside the Sixers source who has never failed me. It's bad, he has a small tear and will probably require some sort of procedure.”
pic.twitter.com/C2lxWB6Pqf

— Boston Sports Gordo (@BOSSportsGordo) May 1, 2023

“I talked to my inside-the-Sixers source, who has never failed me,” Bayless said. “He told me a week ago that Joel was going to be just fine, because they thought he was going to be just fine. … I called my source back (on Sunday night) and he said, ‘We’ve got a big problem.’ Joel continued to complain on Monday and Tuesday. They had it MRI’ed, and it’s bad. He has a small tear. It probably will require some kind of procedure after the season is over.”

Embiid’s injury has been described as a knee sprain. That sounds a lot less severe than a tear, though there are instances when the terms are used interchangeably.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Monday that Embiid had shown improvement and “there is optimism” that the NBA MVP favorite could return for Game 2 on Wednesday night.

.@wojespn is told Joel Embiid is "unlikely to play" in Game 1 against the Celtics: pic.twitter.com/DL3v5yrn4B

— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) May 1, 2023

That does not necessarily mean what Bayless said is inaccurate. It is certainly possible that Embiid has a significant injury and is planning to play through it at some point. The question would then be how much it impacts him.

The comments Doc Rivers made about Embiid on Saturday certainly did not make 76ers fans feel any better about the situation.