‘Joel Embiid’s Body Is Older than LeBron James’: Gilbert Arenas Claims 76ers Center’s Knee Is ‘Done’

The Philadelphia 76ers will rank among the most disappointing teams in the NBA this season, currently sitting at the 12th spot in the East despite starting the year with hopes of title contention. The disastrous failure of the Sixers can be mostly attributed to the continued absence of their franchise centerpiece Joel Embiid due to a knee injury. Gilbert Arenas doesn’t seem to think that the road will get any easier for the Sixers or Embiid.

In fact, the three-time All-Star believes that the 2023 MVP has injured his knee beyond rehabilitation.

“[Embiid’s] knee is done. This is it. This is that athlete who most likely, the cartilage is gone from his knee and he’s out there with no brake pad. There’s only so much time before you gon’ go back because it’s irritated,” Arenas stated on his show, Gil’s Arena.

The former Washington Wizard brings up a valid point. The 30-year-old has yet to play more than 68 games in a single campaign in his career and has been affected by nagging injuries since before his professional career even began. Therefore, it’s not shocking to many when Agent Zero claims that Embiid is unlikely to operate as the franchise superstar of a title-contending team.

Arenas went on to compare Embiid’s injury struggles to former All-Star Brandon Roy, whose career ended prematurely due to a similar ailment. Roy officially retired after just six NBA seasons at the age of 28, so while the veteran center has already outlasted the high-flying guard, Embiid’s future still looks quite bleak.

Gil proceeded to compare LeBron James’ body to that of Embiid as LBJ has posted a relatively healthy All-Star-worthy campaign so far despite his seniority. Arenas emphasized how much fresher James looks compared to Embiid, even though the latter is 10 years younger.

“Embiid’s body is older than LeBron’s by probably a decade. You can see it,” Arenas concluded.

That’s a shocking indictment to Embiid’s future if he’s being compared to a 40-year-old player in a scenario where the latter actually comes out on top. So it’s not surprising that the Sixers star is frustrated with his injuries.

Joel Embiid described his injury recovery as ‘depressing’

Once in the running for the best player in the NBA, the former MVP shared how taxing his injury recovery has been on his mental health. In an interview with ESPN, Embiid described the grueling process as depressing.

“I’ve been saying it for the past few months. it’s been extremely depressing. It’s something that hasn’t been figured out, and it’s extremely annoying, because I would love to play every single game,” a defeated Embiid relayed.

If Embiid isn’t able to return to full strength soon, and as of now it seems unlikely that he will, Philadelphia may have to consider blowing up their roster to a reasonable extent. They could be heading for a lottery appearance if the team’s injury issues aren’t remedied soon.