PHILADELPHIA — After Joel Embiid was ruled out for Monday’s game against the Chicago Bulls following the completion of imaging on his troublesome left knee, 76ers coach Nick Nurse said that the superstar center will continue being looked at on Tuesday as both sides determine what the next steps will be.
“He did have some testing earlier today, which ruled him out for tonight’s game,” Nurse said during his pregame media availability. “There’s still further testing tonight even yet today and continuing tomorrow, and that’s where we are.”
Nurse did, however, say that he and the 76ers aren’t ready to say Embiid’s season is over.
“Not at that point at all,” he said. “Just, again, we are playing and testing and trying to figure it out and go from there.”
Embiid was at Monday’s shootaround, sources said, and had been questionable with left knee injury management before going to get imaging done. His left knee has been a constant issue all of this season and for large portions of last year — particularly after Jonathan Kuminga accidentally fell on it in a game in Golden State on Jan. 30, 2024.
Embiid has been openly frustrated about the lack of progress he’s seen with the knee, which hasn’t responded in the way he, and the team, have hoped it would this season. After last Thursday’s blowout loss to the Boston Celtics, Embiid said he would need to “fix the problem” in his knee to return to the elite level of play he’s shown in the past, including winning the 2023 NBA’s Most Valuable Player award and averaging more points than minutes played last season before the injury — something no one has done over a full season besides Wilt Chamberlain 60 years ago.
Then, in Saturday’s last-second loss to the Brooklyn Nets, Embiid didn’t play in the fourth quarter and declined to comment on his health after appearing to tweak his knee in the third quarter. When Nurse was asked after the game why Embiid didn’t play in the fourth, he said, “[The group on the court] had a good feel for the game at that point. Just wanted to let them roll with it.”
Embiid is averaging 23.8 points, 8.2 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game while shooting 44.4% overall and 29.9%t from 3-point range — both career-lows.
The 30-year-old, who turns 31 next month, signed a long-term contract extension in September that tied him to the franchise through the 2028-29 season, when he has a player option for $69 million. All told, Embiid has up to four years and $248.1 million remaining on his deal after this season.
The 7-time All-Star and 5-time All-NBA selection came back from a procedure on his knee last February to play against the New York Knicks in the first round of the playoffs, a series Philadelphia lost in six games, before going on to win the gold medal with the U.S. Men’s National Team at the Paris Olympic Games.
After participating in the Olympics, the expectation was Embiid would be ready for the start of training camp and the season. But that wound up not being the case as he didn’t make his season debut until Nov. 12 against the Knicks. He played off-and-on for the next two months before sitting out for an entire month with both a foot sprain and the ongoing issues with his left knee.
Embiid then returned for a win over the Dallas Mavericks on Feb. 4 — the last game, entering Monday night’s contest, that Philadelphia had won. Since then, the 76ers have lost seven straight games, with Embiid playing in five of them.
“It is disappointing and it certainly has been disappointing, there’s no question about it,” Nurse said of how things have played out for both Embiid and the 76ers this season. “I don’t think anybody envisioned it going like this. … [Embiid] wants to play, we want him to play, our best version of our team is with him playing and getting to where we want to go and it hasn’t worked out like that, yet.”
In addition to Embiid, Tyrese Maxey was also questionable for Monday night’s game with a finger issue while Eric Gordon (wrist) and Kyle Lowry (hip) remain out. Paul George, meanwhile, has admitted he’s been getting injections to deal with his own health issues in recent weeks.
Including Monday’s game, Embiid has missed two-thirds of Philadelphia’s games this season, playing in 19 of 57 contests, while the trio of Embiid, Maxey and George has appeared in 15 games together, with Philadelphia going 7-8 in them.
Source: espn.com