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Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers were riding high after Game 3 of their first-round series against the Washington Wizards. Embiid was dominating on the court and trolling the home fans in the nation's capital, clearly in great spirits at the start of a potential NBA championship run. Just days earlier we saw Embiid doing D-Generation X celebrations as he crushed the Wizards.
All was well.
Now all those good vibes have come crashing down. Embiid exited the Game 4 loss to the Wizards with “right knee soreness,” and it turns out he suffered a small lateral meniscus tear.
Joel Embiid is definitely out for Game 5 and is considered day-to-day moving forward. The Sixers will have him on “a physical therapy and treatment program” in an attempt to have him be able to return to the court at some point in these playoffs. It isn't clear when this could be.
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While Embiid very well could be back soon in an effort to play through the injury, this still absolutely sucks and will limit his ceiling as a player in the playoffs as he deals with the pain. There will also be the lingering concern of making things worse now and down the road if he tries to push through it. Embiid has had a history of injury problems, and one doesn't want to see him join the likes of Greg Oden and Andrew Bynum as talented big men wrecked by injuries.
The Sixers will surely be as cautious as possible with Joel Embiid, but he'll want to play if he can and they need him to play in order to win a championship. It's a difficult calculus when determining how to proceed.
Philly should still be able to get past the Wizards without Embiid. The Sixers might even be able to beat the Atlanta Hawks or New York Knicks as well. But they're not getting past the Brooklyn Nets or Milwaukee Bucks without Embiid or with him hobbled. He has been the two-way anchor of this team and an MVP candidate who's irreplaceable when it comes to championship contention.
For now, Ben Simmons will have a big opportunity to step up and silence his critics. The Sixers will then just pray Joel Embiid can play soon, can play well and doesn't hurt himself further. He could very well need surgery down the road no matter what, so we'll see how things play out.
