Injuries more or less wiped out Joel Embiid’s 2024-25 season, but the bad news does not stop there for the Philadelphia 76ers.
In an appearance on ESPN’s “NBA Today,” Shams Charania reported that there has been “tension” between Embiid and the 76ers this season regarding the handling of his injury. According to Charania, Embiid has insisted that he needs surgery to correct his knee issue, while the Sixers pushed him to play through the injury.
“There was some tension there between Joel Embiid and that front office, from my understanding,” Charania said. “The team believed he needed to play at some points of the season, that he needed to get his conditioning right through playing and getting better that way. He felt like he needed surgery. He ends up getting the surgery.”
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As Charania noted, Embiid wound up undergoing surgery. The 76ers had resisted taking that step even when they shut him down for the season, but it ultimately became inevitable.
There is no suggestion that there is a serious disconnect here, but it does bear watching. The 76ers are said to be somewhat frustrated with Embiid’s lack of consistent availability at this point, but there is no indication that Embiid is out of shape. If anything, some thing the Sixers’ handling of Embiid has exacerbated his issues.
On the other hand, this has been a very unhappy season for Embiid in general, and there have definitely been some internal issues that have surfaced publicly. Add in that injuries limited him to 19 games and it would be a surprise if there weren’t some frustrations behind the scenes.
