The Philadelphia 76ers have had a subpar performance over the past few weeks. Since the beginning of February, the 76ers went on a 12-18 record, per ESPN. However, Nick Nurse’s boys have gotten some momentum, winning each of their last two games. With hopes to advance to the playoffs without participating in the play-in tournament, the Philadelphia side will need to defeat the #6 Miami Heat tonight. For the same to be possible, the availability of Joel Embiid will be of importance.
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Unfortunately, the Philadelphia 76ers have numerous players dealing with some kind of injury. Ahead of their battle against the Jimmy Butler-led Miami Heat, the Sixers have added six players to the injury report. While Robert Covington and De’Anthony Melton are the only two players listed as “OUT”, Mo Bamba, Tobias Harris, Tyrese Maxey, and Joel Embiid are all “questionable”.
During the final few games in January, Joel Embiid suffered a horrific injury to his left knee. Despite being in excruciating pain, the reigning MVP decided to play through the injury. However, after returning to the locker room during the fourth quarter of the 30th January contest against the Golden State Warriors, JoJo missed 29 games straight before playing against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday.
Joel played for 29 minutes on 2nd April and didn’t seem to be bothered by the injury as he finished the night with 24 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists, and 3 steals, per ESPN. Considering that the Sixers are in dire need of a win to get out of the play-in territory, it is more than likely that the 30-year-old dons the jersey and leads his team.
Joel Embiid was depressed due to the left knee injury
Following the 109-105 win against the Shai Gilgeous-Alexander-less Oklahoma City Thunder, Joel Embiid spoke to the reporters about the eight-week-long recovery process. Now, Embiid has had an injury-riddled career, missing the initial seasons after getting drafted due to pain in his foot. However, he still dubbed this injury as the reason behind him being depressed.
“Usually, when I have injuries, I just tell myself, move on to the next one, get better, and then fix it,” said Embiid. “But this one took a toll mentally, being depressed… It was not a good one. So, still not where I’m supposed to be, especially mentally, but I just love to play and love basketball and I want to play and any chance that I can be out there, I’m going to take it.”
Apart from revealing that this injury was “disappointing”, Embiid admitted that he was still far away from being like his old, regular self from before the injury.
“For some reason this injury was just … It was disappointing,” he said, per ESPN. “It took me a while to get over it, and I still haven’t gotten over it. So just got to take it day by day, look at the positive.
It seems pretty straightforward as to why this injury so disheartened Embiid. When healthy, Embiid was averaging well over 35 points, 11 rebounds, and nearly 6 assists per game, per Basketball Reference.
At the moment, along with the Sixers also being a top 4 team in the East, Embiid was virtually a lock for the MVP trophy. However, with the league’s new 65-game policy, he will not be eligible to defend his Most Valuable Player award anymore.
Embiid can still prove his worth by making sure that the Sixers advance to the postseason. Following clinching a playoff spot, he will also be expected to lead his team to a deep playoff run, putting an end to lackluster performance in the postseason.
