Joel Embiid has been having one of the great scoring seasons we’ve ever seen in the NBA, as the reigning league MVP currently holds averages of 35.3 points, 11.3 rebounds, and 5.7 assists per game on 53.3/36.6/88.3 shooting splits. Those numbers made him a frontrunner for MVP once again, however the league’s new 65 games played mandate for awards consideration loomed as the All-Star break approached.
The Sixers star center has sat here and there with knee soreness, most recently missing two games in Denver and Portland. He was a late add to the injury report for the Nuggets game (earning Philly a $75,000 fine) and he’s received plenty of heat from some in the NBA media world for sitting out games at a seemingly disproportional rate when facing top competition or being on the road. However, when Embiid did opt to play in Tuesday’s loss to the Warriors, it was clear from the start that he wasn’t quite right, and then disaster struck in the fourth quarter when Jonathan Kuminga landed on his outstretched left knee while going for a loose ball.
Embiid suffered a lateral mensicus injury from the collision and his timetable for a return is unknown. Although Nick Nurse said it was unrelated to his knee soreness that had kept him out of two games, there was plenty of frustration in Philly about whether he should’ve been playing in the first place. That also led to backlash to those who have criticized him for missing time in the past, with the most notable of those to take up for Embiid being LeBron James, who lit into those who critiqued him for missing games without understanding his health situation.
Now he’s out with an injury because of it. Not 1 person has went back on tv or their dumbass podcast and apologized to that MAN!! No accountability 🗑️🗑️🗑️
— LeBron James (@KingJames) February 2, 2024
Load management and stars sitting out has become such a big topic in the NBA, with the league only fueling those debates with this new mandate, and the truth is, it’s a topic that’s almost impossible to talk about with the appropriate tact and context. As LeBron notes, we don’t know what a player is actually dealing with health-wise and the constant desire to have a take — and just generally the toxic nature of the debate around the MVP award — has led to some being far too comfortable making declarative statements about someone’s health.
No matter how many times people make note that players want to play and its teams and training staffs that are almost always dictating rest days, we end up using rest and health question marks as referendums on the players themselves. While Embiid’s injury on Tuesday probably happens whether he’s healthy or not (a man falling on your knee and bending it backwards is going to cause damage pretty much no matter what), it is a reminder that we should probably not use players injury designations as a point of criticism of their game or desire to compete in a sport that takes such a physical toll.
