In a profession troubled by accidents to his ft, knees, elbows, shoulders and even orbital bones, at the least Joel Embiid had averted surgical procedure on his inner organs. Till Thursday.
The Philadelphia 76ers introduced that their franchise middle had been identified with appendicitis and would have emergency surgical procedure in Houston. It is more likely to maintain him out for the Sixers’ postseason, drastically weakening the workforce’s probabilities of success.
Joel Embiid cannot keep wholesome
Whereas Embiid is usually critiqued for his weight or lack of conditioning, it is laborious to fault him for appendicitis. He is performed solely 38 video games this season however was getting wholesome on the proper time, whereas taking part in 5 of the workforce’s final seven video games and sitting solely on a back-to-back and in opposition to the woeful Washington Wizards.
It is one other setback for the 76ers’ “Large Three” plan, the place they signed Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Paul George to large long-term contracts in the summertime of 2024. Then Maxey performed solely 52 video games, accidents restricted George to 41 appearances and Embiid performed solely 19 video games. They went 24-58, then obtained fortunate within the draft lottery and obtained rookie VJ Edgecombe (16 PPG) at No. 3.
This season, they have been more healthy, however George was suspended 25 video games for violating the NBA’s anti-drug coverage and has performed solely 34 video games. Kelly Oubre Jr. has suffered a number of accidents, and Embiid has missed half of the workforce’s video games.
However sitting only one recreation out of sixth place and with a star-studded roster, the newly wholesome Sixers had been wanting harmful in a wide-open Japanese Convention. Now they will have to start out the playoffs with out their former MVP, who put up 34 factors and 12 rebounds simply three days in the past.
