The star big man is reportedly consulting doctors and considering alternative options for his injured knee, per ESPN’s Shams Charania. Both sides have hoped for progress in the seven-footer’s body as he’s undergone treatments as the season rolls on, but no such improvement has happened.
Embiid, a two-time NBA scoring champ and former league MVP, has played in just 19 of Philadelphia’s 56 games this season. He’s averaged 23.8 points, 8.2 rebounds and 4.5 assists in that span.
This is after he missed all but 39 games last year due to a torn meniscus. The 30-year-old has missed 267 regular season games throughout his nine-year career, available 62.8 per cent of the time.
Embiid has been hobbled by injuries all season and was slow to get up late in the third quarter of Saturday’s loss to the Brooklyn Nets when he lost the ball and hit the court. Embiid said earlier this week that he needed to “fix the problem” in his left knee to return to his dominant All-Star form.
“The way I was playing a year ago is not the way I’m playing right now,” Embiid said Thursday after the 76ers lost to Boston. “I probably need to fix the problem, and then I’ll be back at that level. But it’s hard to have trust when you’re not yourself.”
The seven-time All-Star scored just 14 points in 31 minutes on Saturday, missed all six three-point attempts and was a bystander in the fourth when the 76ers rallied from 17 down to take the lead late until they were finished off by Nic Claxton’s winner at the horn.
Coach Nick Nurse said he benched Embiid in the fourth simply because the lineup on the court — which included big man Guerschon Yabusele — was playing well in the quarter. Meanwhile, Embiid, who signed a 3-year, $193-million contract extension in September, declined to comment.
“He’s giving us what he can. He’s not himself, we all know that,” Nurse said. “He’s not certainly the guy we’re used to seeing play at a super-high level. I commend him for giving us what he can.”
The 76ers have struggled as a whole this season, now 20-36 and 12th in the Eastern Conference. Despite making the biggest move of the off-season, signing nine-time All-Star Paul George, it hasn’t led to success on the court yet.
— with files from the Associated Press
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