The Philadelphia 76ers announced Sunday that star center Joel Embiid will miss the rest of the preseason for left knee maintenance. This shouldn’t sound alarms. There is an 82-game regular season to think about. There is also the goal of a deep playoff run. When the Sixers tipped off training camp in the Bahamas, Embiid said he would do anything to be healthy by the postseason. So this is just another step for Embiid and the Sixers in that general direction.
Still, if you are a Philadelphia fan, it’s got to be difficult to fight off a bout of agita. The first opportunity of taking games that don’t count and using them to integrate Embiid and new forward Paul George appears to have come and gone. Embiid played in only 39 regular-season games last season and had surgery on his left meniscus after injuring it on Jan. 31. But he played for Team USA in the Olympics this summer, and played well in a huge game against Serbia and Nikola Jokić.
Was there a relapse with his knee? Will Embiid be ready for the Oct. 23 regular-season opener against the Milwaukee Bucks?
Those are fair questions to ask.
Suddenly, Philadelphia head coach Nick Nurse employing Guerschon Yabusele at the center spot thus far in the preseason, when he’s more naturally a power forward at 6-foot-6, makes a lot more sense. Even if Nurse knows that Embiid will be back for the opener in a little more than a week, he needs to see how Yabusele responds at the five spot, because the Sixers may need a backup center if Embiid isn’t available.
An important part here is the wording of the Sixers’ statement concerning Embiid.
“Embiid is progressing well and will continue to take part in an individual treatment plan designed to best support his health and wellness for the 2024-2025 season,” the team said.
That reads a lot like load management. If that’s the case, this could prove innocuous. But if Embiid isn’t ready for the opener, or worse, if he misses a stretch of games to start the season, this becomes a little more troublesome.
The most important thing is that the Sixers want to get on the same page as a unit, and that’s impossible without Embiid in the middle of it. You can have Tyrese Maxey, and he’s an All-Star level player who may this season even become an All-NBA level player. You can have George, who is still one of the best wings in the league, even as he advances in age. But Embiid is the supernova of this group. He’s one of the best five players in the league. He’s the one who moves the Sixers from a very good team to the level of the Boston Celtics, the Denver Nuggets and the great teams of this league. The Sixers won’t reach their goal of winning a title without him.
That’s why the integration part is important. If one thing stood out with the Sixers this past week, and in particular in a loss last Friday night to the Minnesota Timberwolves, it’s that this group has a ways to go before it gets accustomed to each other. There’s nothing wrong with that, by the way, because George isn’t the only one new to the group. Yabusele, Andre Drummond, Eric Gordon and Caleb Martin have all seen heavy rotation minutes this week after playing elsewhere last season, along with rookie guard Jared McCain, who is solidly in the mix for a rotation spot.
If you look around the Eastern Conference, continuity stands out. The Celtics are back for a run at another championship. The New York Knicks obviously changed their roster, but their core has been together. The Milwaukee Bucks have been together, as have the Indiana Pacers, the Cleveland Cavaliers and Miami Heat. The Orlando Magic have been together.
No legitimate Eastern Conference contender is introducing as many new rotation-level players as the Sixers, which is why if you are a Philly fan, it’s a bummer that Embiid won’t be around in this preseason for at least one or two test-drive spins around the block. In practices and workouts and scrimmages, everyone works together. But you can’t simulate game action, and now some of those growing pains are going to have to come in the regular season.
Therein lies the balance. The Sixers aren’t going to win a championship without a healthy Embiid. But if you sacrifice too many games in the regular season, the path to getting to the Eastern Conference finals or beyond may have to come from a lower seed. That doesn’t often lend itself to getting deep into the postseason.
For instance, Philadelphia earned the No. 7 seed last season, mainly because Embiid missed so much time. That led to a first-round matchup with the Knicks, which led to an early exit. The Celtics, Knicks, Sixers, Bucks and even Pacers can all say with confidence that they are among the best teams in the league. The Sixers won’t have the luxury of cruising through the regular season.
If there is good news, it’s that the Sixers have a deep roster that should be able to absorb missed regular-season games from Embiid, especially if Maxey and George have consistent availability. Those two, plus the plethora of veterans who dot every corner of the roster, should be enough to stay afloat.
But the hope from Sixers fans has to be that Embiid sitting out until the regular season is just a thing of caution, and not a real thing to fret about.
(Photo: Elsa / Getty Images)
