Joel Embiid’s great season was delayed by injuries, but he may have ended up making things worse by trying to play through an injury.
According to Sam Amick of The Athletic:Embiid, who injured his left knee in Tuesday night’s game against the Warriors, only sat out the game because of the “hard stares” he faced.
Amick reported that Embiid, 29, has been dealing with knee pain all season.
The 2022-23 NBA MVP missed back-to-back games against the Nuggets and Trail Blazers on Saturday and Monday, and was criticized by Denver fans and sports media alike when he missed the Nuggets game.
His absence from the game against Nuggets star Nikola Jokic marked his fourth consecutive missed game in Denver, and he has not played in a game in Denver since November 2019.
Due to Embiid’s scratch nature late in the weekend, Nuggets coach Michael Malone was not happy with the way he and his team were reported.
“We found out very late, but again, I don’t know how you go from active/available to out,” Malone said after his team defeated the 76ers. “And I’m sure the league will do their due diligence because it’s frowned upon. I’ve had conversations with the league this year and they say that if a player leaves active duty, there will be an investigation.” There was a situation.”
Philadelphia head coach Nick Nurse claimed that Embiid would like to play in Denver but his left knee prevents him from doing so.
“He really wanted to play, but the medical team determined he was not fit to play today,” Nurse said Saturday. “That’s too bad for the fans. It’s a shame.”
Embiid improved on Tuesday against the Warriors, scoring a season-low 14 points before being forced to leave the game late with an injury.
It was the only game this season in which he did not score at least 20 points.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski:Embiid will not play in the 76ers’ game Thursday at Utah and will return to Philadelphia for further evaluation of his knee.
The paper also added that Philadelphia and the superstar will have to deal with injuries for the remainder of this season.
When Embiid was playing this year, he led the NBA in scoring with a career-high 35.3 points and 11.3 rebounds per game.
