Video surfaces of Joel Embiid’s bizarre pregame ankle injury

Joel Embiid’s bad luck this season did not even take a day off for Christmas.

The Philadelphia 76ers star Embiid hurt his right ankle during pregame warmups on Wednesday in a bizarre scene. Embiid was shooting a fadeaway three from the right side when his momentum carried him backwards into an employee who was standing courtside. As a result, Embiid fell over into the front-row area, grabbing at his ankle in pain.

The beIN SPORTS feed managed to capture the bizarre moment on video.

No sign of Embiid after this fall pic.twitter.com/nTX8iZeToL

— Chris Mannix (@SIChrisMannix) December 25, 2024

After getting back up and continuing his warmup, Embiid then walked off the floor gingerly and did not return until just a few minutes before tip-off against the Boston Celtics. He did still play in the game though, posting 27 and nine rebounds as the 76ers upset the Celtics by a final score of 118-114.

The former NBA MVP Embiid has appeared in just nine of Philadelphia’s 28 games so far this season due to injury and has recently been getting ejected from the games he does manage to play in. Wednesday’s mishap was yet another extension of his comically bad luck lately, but at least Embiid managed to overcome it to help lead the 76ers to a big win.