The Philadelphia 76ers announced on Wednesday that All-Star big man Joel Embiid recently underwent an MRI on his left knee, and will be out for at least a week due to knee soreness.
Per the team, the MRI revealed no structural damage, and Embiid will be re-evaluated in a week to see how he's progressing.
Embiid has a well-known injury history dating back to his days at the University of Kansas when a broken foot just prior to the draft saw him drop to No. 3 overall. Then there was a series of knee injuries and surgeries which forced him to miss what should have been his first two seasons in the league and limited him to just 31 games in his eventual rookie season in 2016-17.
This season, however, he's been relatively healthy, playing in 54 out of the Sixers' 58 games, while averaging over 33 minutes a night. There have been nights off for rest, and the usual reports of minor problems like back tightness, but nothing to this point that has kept Embiid out for a long stretch.
And certainly, nothing that has prevented him from playing dynamite basketball. Voted as an All-Star Game starter, Embiid averaged 27.3 points, 13.5 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game in the first half of the season, putting together easily the best season of his short career.
With Embiid producing at levels like this for Philadelphia, the Sixers will need him on the court as much as possible down the stretch if they want to put themselves in the best position to make a deep run in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Even though Embiid will be out of the lineup, the rest of his teammates will begin that charge on Thursday night when they face the Heat.
Fortunately, in their press release, the Sixers noted that holding Embiid out is a precaution, and with the MRI revealing no structural damage, it doesn't seem to be a serious issue right now.
