Joel Embiid was out yet again for the 76ers due to his injured left knee again which was an issue that has stuck the All-Star center’s immediate playing future.
The 7-foot Embiid underwent testing Monday and was ruled out of Philadelphia’s 142-110 loss to Chicago. He’s missed his 38th game of the season for the sagging Sixers, and all options — from rest to potential surgery to playing through pain — remain on the table, depending on the results of the testing and imaging.
The question lingers in the City of Philly: Has the seven-time All-Star center played his last game of the season?
“Not at that point, at all,” coach Nick Nurse stated on Monday. “We are playing and testing and trying to figure it out and go from there.”
Embiid has played in just 19 of 57 games for the Sixers, who fell to 20-37 after a crucial 142-110 loss. They trailed by as many as 50 to the 23-win Bulls and have only a fading shot at earning a berth in the SoFi Play-In Tournament. He’s averaged 23.8 points, he averaged at least 30, and won two scoring titles the last three seasons and also scored only 29 points combined in his last two games.
“I don’t think anybody envisioned it going like this,” Nurse said. “It’s disappointing on a lot of levels. He wants to play. We want him to play. Our best version is of with him playing. It hasn’t worked out like that. Yet.”
Nurse benched Embiid for the entire fourth quarter in Saturday’s 105-102 loss to Brooklyn. Embiid scored just 14 points in 31 minutes, missed all six 3-point attempts and was no where to be found 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.
Embiid has played only 58 regular-season games and seven Play-In Tournament/playoff games since he earned the Kia Most Valuable Player award in the 2022-23 season. He played just 39 games last season due to a torn meniscus in his left knee. The 76ers announced in early February of that season that he had undergone surgery.
Embiid came back in early April, was part of the 76ers’ playoff run and then won a gold medal with the U.S. Olympic team last summer. He acknowledged earlier this month that he didn’t have enough time to fully recover after undergoing surgery last year.