76ers will hold out Joel Embiid for the rest of the NBA preseason
After flaming out in the NBA playoffs last year, the Philadelphia 76ers headed into the NBA offseason fully intent on making a drastic change by adding another star player to play alongside Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey.
Although there were some doubts were the 76ers could upgrade the roster, the team ultimately struck gold by being able to sign veteran Paul George to a long-term deal. This creates one of the most intimidating trios in the league and perhaps the team that can compete with the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference.
Unfortunately, Embiid’s injury issues have already become an issue for the one-time NBA MVP, with the 76ers reportedly shutting him down for the rest of the NBA preseason to manage his knee injury, according to Tim Bontemps of ESPN.
The Philadelphia 76ers announced Sunday that superstar center Joel Embiid will sit out for the remainder of the preseason due to left knee injury management.
It is early, and the team has yet to get into games that count, but this seems like it will always be a concern for Embiid for the rest of his career, and he never appears to be fully healthy for an entire NBA season.
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Apparently, the 76ers brass aims to get his left knee as close to 100% as possible before the start of the upcoming regular season via ESPN.
Embiid wasn’t with the team on the start of its three-game preseason road trip to Iowa Friday and Boston on Saturday, instead meeting with doctors Thursday to check on the status of his left knee. That meeting went well, with sources saying that the goal is to put Embiid in the best possible position to make it through the season, and to have his knee as close to 100% as possible.
It remains to be seen if the 76ers can stay healthy enough over the course of the upcoming season to be a legitimate title contender in the East, as George has had his fair share of injury issues over the years as well, but if this team can stay healthy, Philadelphia will be a team to watch during the 2024-25 campaign.
