Shams Charania, ESPNO October 23, 2024 at 03:39 PM ET
The NBA has launched an investigation into the Philadelphia 76ers surrounding the involvement of NBA center Joel Embiid, league officials told ESPN.
Embiid did not play in the preseason for what the team described as management of a left knee injury, nor in the 124-109 season-opening loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday. He will miss two more games this week – Friday against the Toronto Raptors and Sunday against the Indiana Pacers.
Editor’s Picks
1 related
It is standard practice for the NBA to review a team any time a star player misses a nationally televised game, according to its player participation policy.
The 76ers said Embiid is “responding well to his individual plan” and will ramp up his return-to-play activities this week, including taking scrimmages.
This is part of Embiid’s new normal this season, according to sources, a strategy to keep the NBA’s reigning MVP healthy for the 2022-2023 postseason. The plan was expected to include periodic time off during the regular season and routine evaluations from doctors and the 76ers’ medical staff, those sources said.
Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey told ESPN’s Tim Bontemps earlier this month that Philadelphia will try to keep both Embiid and Paul George away from back-to-backs this season.
“We’re going to be smart about this. Part of being smart about this is having both Pauls [George] “And Joel probably won’t play much, if any, backfield,” Morey said.
Embiid also told Bontemps that “if I had to guess, I’ll probably never play consecutively the rest of my career.”
Embiid has lost between 25 and 30 pounds, with hopes of losing more, and will continue to wear a brace on his left knee despite it being something he prefers not to do, instead choosing to keep it as structurally stable and protected as possible. .
Embiid played only 39 games last season due to knee injuries. He returned in time to play against the New York Knicks in the playoffs, but did so at less than 100% — and that was before he dealt with a sudden case of Bell’s Palsy during the series. He continued to play for Team USA this summer, helping the Americans win a fifth straight gold medal at the Paris Olympics.
