After missing two games against the Nuggets and Blazers with knee soreness, Joel Embiid was back in the lineup for the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday night as they took on the Warriors in San Francisco, but the reigning MVP did not look quite right for much of the night.
Embiid was not looking to attack smaller defenders in the same way he often is, and didn’t seem to be moving particularly well as the Sixers found themselves trailing for most of the night. As the fourth quarter wound down, the Warriors had taken full control of the game with a double digit lead when disaster struck for the Sixers. Embiid got the ball poked away by Jonathan Kuminga helping down on him as he backed down Draymond Green, and as players scrambled for the loose ball, Kuminga jumped to secure it and landed on Embiid’s outstretched left leg, pushing his knee backwards towards the ground.
Joel Embiid went to the locker room after getting tied up with Jonathan Kuminga pic.twitter.com/bkOREMkd7F
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) January 31, 2024
Embiid immediately grasped at his knee in significant pain, rolling on the court before eventually getting up and limping to the locker room. The hope for the Sixers, their fans, and the league as a whole is that it was more scary than anything for Embiid, but there will further testing coming for the Sixers star center to determine the severity of the injury. For now, everyone will hope it wasn’t especially serious and wasn’t something that will keep him out long-term and threaten to end his season.
