The Philadelphia 76ers announced that Joel Embiid will return tonight from a near-month-long absence from an orbital fracture on his left eye and a concussion. He was originally set to miss a couple of weeks with a return for the playoffs possible, but was listed as doubtful to play on Wednesday night.
Embiid likely had to convince the Sixers' training staff to let him play through the injury despite the possibility of re-injury. The team upgraded him to probable on Thursday afternoon and suited up for his team donning a new, futuristic looking mask.
Here's the mask! pic.twitter.com/Gxdi9NBLMV
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) April 19, 2018
A close look at the mask Joel Embiid is using for tonight's game. pic.twitter.com/xzOPoTgRLX
— Sporting News NBA (@sn_nba) April 19, 2018
ESPN's Ramona Shelburne got the details on Embiid's mask, which is both carbon and polycarbonate. The mask itself has protective goggles on them as well.
The mask Embiid is wearing tonight has protective eyewear built into it! It’s carbon AND poly carbonate. Hence, it’s stronger than a normal mask. Let’s just say this has been a super involved hi-tech project between the Sixers, Embiid’s camp and the independent league doctors.
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) April 19, 2018
According to Keith Pompey of the Philly Inquirer, Embiid will not be on a minutes restriction in his first game back since suffering the injury, and the amount of playing time he sees will solely depend on his conditioning. Due to the nature of his injury, Embiid should have been able to keep his conditioning close to where it was prior to the injury.
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