The Philadelphia 76ers spent the primary half of the 2023-24 NBA season trying like they’d be competing for a championship. After repeated playoff disappointments, their star middle Joel Embiid gave the impression to be locked in and able to lastly recover from the postseason hump, and he was taking part in at a stage that had him as the general favourite to win the league’s MVP award.
And whereas accidents and knee points have all the time been an issue for the middle from Cameroon, they’ve severely affected Embiid’s present marketing campaign.
NBA: 76ers Have Struggled With out Embiid This 12 months
BREAKING: 76ers star Joel Embiid — the reigning MVP — will bear a process this week to restore a left meniscus damage, a group official tells ESPN. A restoration timeline is anticipated after process, however expectation is that he’ll miss an prolonged time period. pic.twitter.com/9c3ZqM7iT2
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 5, 2024
He performed in 25 of the group’s first 28 video games, and have become borderline dominant in December. Throughout a two-week stretch simply earlier than the vacations, Embiid scored 34+ in eight straight video games, together with two 50+ level video games and three extra 40+ level efforts. His odds for profitable MVP shrunk, and his standing as the favourite grew to become much more solidified.
Then, the knee points returned. Starting on Christmas and working by means of January twelfth, Embiid missed 7 of 9 video games and the 76ers started to slide a bit within the standings. 6 video games after returning, the knee flared up forward of a recreation in Denver, and he was compelled to sit down out for the eleventh time this yr.
A problem that got here to the forefront final week relating to time missed by gamers across the NBA is one relating to the 65 recreation requirement. With a view to fight load administration, the league has mandated that gamers take part in 65 of the 82 common season video games to be eligible for postseason awards like MVP or All-Professional honors.
Injury To The Knee Will Want Time To Restore
76ers “hope” Embiid misses one to 2 months, per @ShamsCharania
Restoration will probably be “considerably longer” if a full restore is required pic.twitter.com/pN2CcQKd8M
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 5, 2024
With Embiid on the quick observe to the league’s MVP {hardware}, it was in his finest curiosity to return to motion as quickly as doable. He may solely miss 17 video games on the yr and nonetheless stay eligible, and the clock was ticking. He had simply 5 video games to spare and almost half a season to go.
So when he compelled his hand and performed in entrance of a nationwide viewers towards the Warriors final week, it was obvious that he wasn’t proper. He struggled by means of the competition, and ultimately was dominated out for future video games because of the injury he took to the knee. He’s set to have surgical procedure on it this week, and his timetable for a return is unknown.
Unforuntaley for the 76ers, they’ve a present mark of 4-10 this season when Embiid doesn’t play. The change is clear when he’s off of the ground, they usually may very well be in for a fall down the standings. It has already began occurring, in actual fact, as each the Cavaliers and Knicks have previous them within the Japanese Convention playoff image, and Philly is presently sitting in seventh place after going 5-5 of their final 10.
They are going to be at residence for his or her contest towards Luka Dončić and the Dallas Mavericks on Monday evening. The star guard for the Mavs has been taking part in lights out these days, and they’re presently listed as 1.5-point favorites over the Embiid-less 76ers.
