Joel Embiid is set to miss his fourth straight game to start the regular season. The Sixers say there isn’t a new injury or any setback. So, what the hell is going on?
Hockey has always been a sport known for its toughness. Players play through and hide injuries regularly. It’s to a point where NHL teams don’t even give real injury reports. They’ll hit you with “lower-body injury,” which basically could mean anything from a hip issue to a broken toe.
It feels like we’re an injury update or two away from the Sixers resorting to this measure.
The team announced Tuesday that stars Joel Embiid and Paul George will miss Wednesday’s home game against the Detroit Pistons. Both players will officially miss the first four games of the season, putting an enormous damper on things following a wildly successful offseason.
In the case of George, it’s understandable that he still might not be ready to play. The 34-year-old hyperextended his left knee a little over two weeks ago during a preseason game against the Atlanta Hawks. He was diagnosed with a bone bruise. Given his age and injury history, it makes sense to give the nine-time All-Star more time to heal. After Wednesday, the Sixers don’t play again until a home date with the Memphis Grizzlies Saturday night.
As far as Embiid goes, your guess is as good as mine.
And that’s the problem: nobody knows what the hell is going on with the player that the Sixers’ title hoops almost completely hinge on.
Before head coach Nick Nurse was made available to reporters after practice Wednesday, the team issued a fairly generic statement. When Nurse sat down to speak, the first question (of course) was about what Embiid and George were able to do at practice — a very normal and fair query. Nurse said he wouldn’t answer and referred to the statement. Before another reporter could even get a question out, Nurse cut them off and said he wouldn’t answer.
If Nurse is frustrated, it’s understandable. He surely wants Embiid to play more than any fan or media member does. But this dismissiveness of legitimate questions only leads to more chaos. No head coach signs on to be an injury update correspondent, but someone from the Sixers needs to provide answers.
The former MVP isn’t playing. It’s not a new injury, the team says. So, what the hell is it? Just a shred of transparency would go a long way, yet here we are.
Embiid has had two meniscus surgeries on his left knee. For those who aren’t familiar with the function of the meniscus, it’s basically a shock absorber for your knee joint. What happens with a tear is a small piece rips and irritates the knee like a hangnail. Depending on the tear, the surgeon will snip a small piece of the meniscus out, relieving the pain. The issue is that meniscus does not grow back. Factoring in that Embiid has gone through this twice — and is a very large human — who knows how much meniscus is actually there to protect his knee. It’s likely part of the reason he lost 25-30 pounds and wants to lose more, for more stability and stress distribution.
If that’s the case, why not simply come out and say that? We’ve been told that the goal is to keep Embiid as healthy as possible so he’s ready for the postseason. Great! Most fans are on board there. But when a player who last played basketball on Aug. 10 isn’t ready to play games over two months later? You have to expect that to send up red flags. Even the league is getting involved and punishing the Sixers for this opaque messaging. They essentially had to beat out of the team that Embiid has a “left knee condition” — which isn’t even providing much clarity at all.
We’ve heard so much talk of “the plan,” but little explanation as to what “the plan” is. Was it “the plan” for Embiid to miss the first four games of the season? If things weren’t going according to “the plan,” would they come clean? If you won’t even provide basic details of “the plan,” how do you expect people to go along with it and not have questions? Perhaps the fans who spent a lot of money on tickets for the home opener or Tobias Harris’ return would’ve liked to have this information. To put it bluntly, the team and player have done little in the past to earn the benefit of the doubt.
If Embiid can suit up against Memphis on Saturday, looks good, and then plays (mostly) regularly from there, this could all go away. But the longer this drags out — and the more secretive and nebulous the whole thing becomes — the more you open yourselves up to concerns and conspiracy theories.
It’s all disappointing, but it’s not surprising.
There’s no new injury. It’s “left knee injury management.”
Or, ya know, a lower-body injury.