It feels like this is the first steps down the road to the 76ers shutting down Joel Embiid — and maybe other banged-up players — for the rest of the season.
In the wake of Embiid struggling against Brooklyn on Saturday night and then having left knee swelling postgame, he and the 76ers “are consulting doctors and considering alternative options on his injured knee,” Shams Charania reports at ESPN. Embiid will have imaging and testing done on his knee, the same one he had surgery on just more than a year ago, and the knee that is still bothering him, according to the report. The sides will bring in specialists to chart a path forward, but the current belief is surgery will not be necessary.
Embiid has not looked like his MVP self all season, but things have worsened lately. Against Brooklyn on Saturday he started the night 1-of-5 shooting while Nets center Nic Clayton was hitting jumpers over him. Coach Nick Nurse benched Embiid during the fourth quarter, leaning into Guerschon Yabusele who helped spark a 76ers run to make the game close (a Claxton putback at the buzzer won it for Brooklyn). Embiid finished the night with 14 points on 4-for-13 shooting, seven rebounds and five assists.
It’s time for Philadelphia to shut Embiid and any other injured player down for an extended stretch (Paul George has admitted he is playing through pain, as is Kyle Lowry, among others). It’s time for the 76ers to let go of the rope this season and focus on the next one.
The 76ers sit 12th in the East and are 1.5 games back of the Bulls for the No. 10 seed and getting the final play-in spot. At this point, even if they got the ninth or 10th seed, not even die-hard 76ers fans see a path to this team making the deep playoff run that was expected when training camps opened.
Philadelphia owes its first-round draft pick to Oklahoma City, but it is top-six protected. Philadelphia currently has the sixth-worst record in the NBA. If the NBA Draft Lottery were today, Philly would have a 43.4% chance of retaining its pick, but a 56.6% they still lose it (and a 52.4% chance OKC would pick No. 7 or 8). Philadelphia is currently three games ahead of Toronto, if the Sixers could fall behind them and have the fifth-worst record, their odds of holding on to their pick jump up to 63.9%.
Embiid having specialists look at his knee seems like the first step to the 76ers shutting it down for the season, but there will be a process they go through first (the league office will not let them sit healthy star players).
