5:17pm: Embiid will undergo surgery on his left hand in New York tomorrow and will be re-evaluated in one or two weeks, according to the Sixers.
4:27pm: Sixers star center Joel Embiid has suffered a torn radial collateral ligament of the fourth metacarpal in his left hand, the team announced today in a press release. According to the 76ers, there’s no return timetable set for Embiid, who is evaluating potential treatment options.
Embiid, 25, had been his usual dominant self through 31 games for the Sixers, posting 23.4 PPG, 12.3 RPG, and 3.3 APG while anchoring one of the league’s best defenses and staying relatively healthy. However, he dislocated his left ring finger during Monday night’s game and it now appears that injury is a little more serious than initially feared.
Asked tonight whether Embiid would be out for the “foreseeable future,” head coach Brett Brown cautioned that it’s still too early to jump to conclusions.
“I don’t know about the foreseeable future,” Brown said, per Derek Bodner of The Athletic (Twitter links). “It is disappointing for him not to play tonight, of course. … We’ll learn more, all of us, very soon.”
We’ll wait for an official update on how the Sixers and Embiid intend to treat the injury, but if the big man does miss some time, his absence figures to put more pressure on Ben Simmons to be the club’s primary play-maker and force Al Horford to play more minutes at the five.
Kyle O’Quinn could also see regular minutes, with little-used bigs like Norvel Pelle and Jonah Bolden sliding up on the depth chart as well.
Right on schedule
Unfortunately that’s true. But at least they should be able to hold onto 6th place in the east and probably lose to either Toronto, Boston, or Indiana in the first round. Poor Sixers.
radical collateral
Just another example of why they should eventually trade Embid.
Embid has now missed games because of injuries to his Finger, Hip, Knee, Anckle, Back, Face and Hand.
No Embiid… Sixers still better, bigger, faster & stronger than Celtics.
That makes it 3-0 against the Celtics haha fully fit Cs can’t even beat us without our best big