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Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid's 2024-25 season is over. The team announced Thursday that Embiid has been ruled out for the remainder of the season because he is "medically unable to play." Previously, Embiid and the Sixers had been trying to manage pain and swelling in his left knee, which required surgery in February 2024.
In 19 appearances this season, Embiid averaged 23.8 points, 8.2 rebounds and 4.5 assists. Last week, after a loss against the Boston Celtics in which he didn't see the floor in the fourth quarter, Embiid told reporters that he didn't feel like his dominant self and needed to "fix the problem" to regain his form. This was not the first time that he'd suggested he would need to undergo another surgery. On Thursday, though, Philadelphia did not announce that Embiid would have surgery again, only that it is working with specialists to come up with a treatment plan.
The full statement:
The Philadelphia 76ers and Joel Embiid have been consulting with top specialists regarding ongoing issues with his left knee. After further evaluation, it has been determined that he is medically unable to play and will miss the remainder of the season to focus on treatment and rehabilitation. We are working with medical experts to determine the exact treatment plan and will update media when we have more information. The team and specialists will continue working with Joel to ensure the best path forward for his long-term health and performance.
On Feb. 7, Sixers president Daryl Morey told reporters that, after talking to "seven, eight, nine, 10 at this point of the top [experts] in the world," they were optimistic about Embiid's knee issues improving over time.
"We do think there will be a place in the future where the symptoms and that are reduced or go to zero," Morey said. "But we're still in the middle of that where we have to manage it, and it's going to be based on symptoms whether or not he's out there."
Morey added that Embiid was in a "great place" at the time and projected confidence in the team making a late-season run. It soon became evident, though, that Embiid could not effectively play and manage the symptoms. Philadelphia has not won a game since then, and it is currently 20-38 and 12th in the Eastern Conference.
The big question here is not simply whether Embiid will have surgery or go the rest-and-treatment route, but whether either path will allow him to play at an MVP level and sustain it. Three weeks ago, Morey repeatedly stated that the Sixers were still committed to building around Embiid and felt that signing him to a three-year max extension (worth a projected $192.9 million) last summer was the correct call. It still could be, but only if another season like this one can be avoided.
In the short term, the question is whether this seemingly cursed Philadelphia season could have a silver lining. The team has lost nine straight games, and it owns the sixth-worst record in the league. The Toronto Raptors, who have the fifth-worst record, are 2½ games behind them in the standings (or ahead of them in the race to the bottom), but Toronto has the easiest remaining schedule in the NBA (its opponents have a cumulative winning percentage of .368) and will face the Sixers twice in March. Should Philly finish in the spot it occupies now, it will have a 45.8% chance of keeping its top-six-protected first-round pick. Should the Sixers fall to the spot the Raptors are in, they'll have a 63.9% chance of keeping it.
A day before the Embiid announcement, Philadelphia announced that guard Eric Gordon would be sidelined for at least three months after having wrist surgery, effectively ending his season. With Embiid officially out, does it still make sense for Paul George to play through pain with a splint on his injured pinky? Does it still make sense to play Tyrese Maxey for an average of 38 minutes per game? Probably not! These things were happening because the Sixers were holding out hope that they could make the play-in, then get into the playoffs and then, if they were mostly healthy, give a contender a run for its money in the playoffs. After a terrible loss at home against the Chicago Bulls earlier this week, George acknowledged that they weren't playing as if they still thought this was possible. In this way, this Embiid news should be clarifying: The dream of competing for something meaningful this season is officially over.
