By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
What a big blow for the Philadelphia 76ers.
According to veteran NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, Joel Embiid, Philadelphia’s franchise player, is set to miss several games as the superstar center will undergo knee surgery to fix his lateral meniscus injury in his left knee announced last February 5, 2024.
Embiid hurt his left knee during their game against the Golden State Warriors where they lost, 119-107.
With only four minutes remaining in the game, Embiid had to limp his way to the locker room after Golden State’s Jonathan Kuminga fell on his left leg.
Moments after the game, Philadelphia head coach Nick Nurse revealed that Embiid already undergone an MRI and shared that there was a lateral meniscus injury in his left knee.
As of this writing, the Philadelphia medical team is yet to release Embiid’s injury timeline including the number of months he will miss.
Without Embiid this season, the 76ers struggled to enter the NBA winning column and is only 4-10 in the stretch.
Embiid is currently boosting his chances of winning a second straight NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) award as he averaged 35.3 points, 11.3 rebounds, 5.7 assists, and 1.8 blocks in his 34 total games played.
Before injuring his left knee, Embiid was having a dominant display of scoring the leather as he averaged nearly 40 points during the last five games.
Last January 23, 2024, Embiid rewrote the NBA history books after setting the new scoring record for the Philadelphia franchise.
Embiid dropped a new scoring record of 70 points against the San Antonio Spurs, 133-123, surpassing the great Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain’s 68-point performance last December 16, 1967.
The reigning Most Valuable Player (MVP) did it with an efficient scoring rating after converting 24 out of his 41 attempts from the field.
Without the paint presence of Embiid, the 76ers will have to rely on Paul Reed’s tenacity, the team’s secondary center, as well as the gang rebounding of Kelly Oubre Jr., Tobias Harris, and Marcus Morris.
