Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid is expected to miss two to three weeks with a bone bruise in his left knee, sources told The Athletic's Shams Charania on Saturday morning.
Embiid sustained the injury after a third-quarter dunk and did not return in the Sixers' 127-101 win against the Washington Wizards on Friday. It was Embiid's first game back since the All-Star break.
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The 26-year-old was hit in the air and then landed awkwardly on one leg before falling to the floor after his dunk. He grimaced in pain and grabbed his left knee before he walked to the locker room under his own power. Dwight Howard replaced Embiid with Philadelphia leading 80-60.
The center tallied 23 points, seven rebounds and three assists against the Wizards before leaving. He entered Friday averaging 30.2 points, 11.6 rebounds and 3.3 points this season for the 76ers, who are currently the top team in the Eastern Conference.
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What this means for the 76ers
Derek Bodner, 76ers beat writer: If Embiid winds up missing 2-3 weeks because of the injury, he will miss roughly 11 games or so, as the Sixers finish off a seven-game road trip on April 1 against the Cavs. Those 11 games were already looking tough for the Sixers as they include matchups against some of the NBA's best teams, including the Bucks, Lakers, Clippers and Nuggets.
With the Sixers holding on to a one game lead over the Nets atop the Eastern Conference, the injury has the chance to have a significant impact on the standings. Still, considering the injury had the chance to be much, much worse, and this initial diagnosis is about the best case scenario Sixers fans could have hoped for.
What this could do for Embiid's MVP chances
Bodner: With the Sixers declaring that Embiid's left knee will be re-evaluated in two weeks, he will miss a minimum of eight games, with the possibility of more depending on how that checkup goes. Even if it's just an eight-game absence, that would put Embiid at 15 games missed on the season, which is more than one-fifth of this shortened 72-game schedule. Given how well Nikola Jokić is playing, and the fact that the Nuggets have started to climb the Western Conference standings, along with the presence of LeBron James and the defending champion Lakers, this injury puts Embiid's MVP bid into serious jeopardy.
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Embiid's injury history
Bodner: Embiid's career has been riddled with injury scares, from the stress fracture in his back which cut short his only season at Kansas, to the broken navicular bone in his right foot which caused him to miss the first two seasons of his NBA career, to various other nagging lower-body injuries he's had to deal with.
He has had problems in his left knee before, most notably when he hyperextended it against the Portland Trail Blazers back in 2017, which resulted in a bone bruise and a torn meniscus, the latter of which eventually required surgery and ended his season. He also dealt with tendinitis in the same knee leading up to, and throughout, the 2019 NBA playoffs.
(Photo: Rob Carr / Getty Images)
Embiid expected to miss 2-3 weeks:
76ers MVP candidate Joel Embiid is expected to miss 2-to-3 weeks with a bone bruise in his left knee, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 13, 2021