Joel Embiid will miss Monday night’s 76ers game against the Chicago Bulls at the Wells Fargo Center.
The center was downgraded from questionable for the game. Embiid and the team are considering alternative options, including another surgery, for his ailing left knee.
“He did have some testing earlier today, which ruled him out of tonight’s game,” coach Nick Nurse said before the game. “There’s still further testing going on even yet today and continuing tomorrow. So that’s kind of where we are.”
Based on the early testing, do the Sixers get the sense that Embiid is done for the season?
“Not at that point at all,” Nurse said. “Just again, we are playing and testing and trying to figure it out and go from there.”
The 30-year-old Embiid, who has been dealing with the knee problem all season, had a tough time moving around Saturday in a loss to the Brooklyn Nets. That led to the 2023 MVP and seven-time All-Star being benched for the entire fourth quarter.
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Embiid has played in only 19 of the team’s 56 games in a disappointing season.
His averages of 23.8 points and 8.2 rebounds are the fourth- and second-lowest, respectively, in his nine NBA seasons. He’s also shooting career lows from the field (44.4%) and on three-pointers (29.9%). And Embiid has been moving worse in recent games than he had in December and early January.
“I would agree that he’s not moving nearly as well as he was,” Nurse said Sunday. “We were hoping maybe something — conditioning, rhythm, that kind of stuff — would get that going. But it doesn’t appear that way right now.”
On Saturday, Embiid had 14 points on 4-for-13 shooting. He also struggled defensively, as the Nets’ post players scored at will against him.
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Embiid told ESPN on Feb. 8 that he might need offseason surgery and an extended rest period to get back to playing at an elite level.
A dejected Embiid doubled down on that Thursday after a loss to the Boston Celtics. He said he needs to “fix the problem” in his left knee to return to his All-Star form. Embiid scored 15 points on 3-for-9 shooting against the Celtics.
“For me, I just check on him,” guard Tyrese Maxey said of being there for Embiid. “We’ve grown a relationship that’s bigger than basketball, I would say. … It’s bigger than basketball for us and we just appreciate him putting his body on the line every single night and coming out here and trying to fight with us and help us get W’s.”