Joel Embiid Still Isn’t Cleared For Basketball Activity But Intends On Playing Opening Night

Monday, teams around the NBA held media day as players, coaches, and front office members all descended on their respective facilities together for the first time publicly ahead of the 2017-18 season. Media day is often about optimism for the new season, with new faces and returning players hoping to see improvement, but for teams with lingering injuries, its also a day to get updates on those players’ statuses, as we’ve often heard little over the summer.

Outside of Isaiah Thomas’ hip, Joel Embiid’s meniscus tear is the biggest injury coming into this season, as the Sixers hope to take the next step in The Process and make the playoffs this season. With Ben Simmons finally able to play after missing all of last year and the additions of Markelle Fultz and J.J. Redick have optimism at the highest levels they’ve been in Philly in a decade.

However, so much is riding on Embiid’s knee and his ability to finally play most of a season that until they get him back on the court, there will remain some skepticism. On Monday, we got our update on his status and while the tone was positive, the young star has still not been cleared to play basketball entering training camp.

With the season a few weeks away, that’s not ideal, but Bryan Colangelo does think he’ll be cleared by the start of the regular season.

Whether that means he can be in the lineup on opening night, or if he’ll need maybe a little more time to get back comfortable before playing, we can expect to see a fully operations Sixers roster at some point early in the season. For his part, Embiid insists he feels “great” although he’s still yet to hit the floor and expects to be ready come opening night.

That’s a good sign and hopefully he’ll be able to make it through a full season, because he was dominant in limited action a year ago and if he continues to play like that Philadelphia can absolutely be a playoff team in the East.