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Philadelphia 76ers big man Joel Embiid’s first appearance of the 2024-25 season was concerning because he didn’t look like himself.
On the latest episode of the Hoop Collective Podcast (starts at 26:25 mark), ESPN’s Brian Windhorst noted that Embiid “looked alarmingly slow” in his return from a knee injury.
Embiid finished the game with 13 points on 2-of-11 shooting, five assists and three rebounds in 26 minutes against the New York Knicks on Tuesday.
While this is absolutely a cause for concern, there are reasons to explain it away. Embiid was playing his first NBA game in nearly seven months, so his conditioning wasn’t going to be in peak form.
The fact that Embiid was able to make it through the game without significant incident is a positive sign. He sat out Wednesday’s game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on the second night of a back-to-back.
Philadelphia doesn’t have another back-to-back until Dec. 3-4, so the hope will be that he can get regular playing time over the next few weeks to get back into peak game shape.
Injuries have been a storyline for much of Embiid’s career, and that was once again the case at the start of the 2024-25 season when he was sidelined with knee concerns.
The NBA investigated the situation and determined the team didn’t violate the player participation policy because there was a genuine concern about the knee but still fined the 76ers $100,000 because of public comments made about the situation.
ESPN’s Shams Charania reported on Oct. 31 the “new normal” for Embiid would “include periodic time off at different points during the season. It’s going to include routine check-ups on his knee over the course of the season.”
Embiid has never played more than 68 games in a season and appeared in just 39 games in 2023-24.
Managing his health with the playoffs in mind is surely a priority for the 76ers at this point, but they are off to a 2-9 start and need to start stringing together wins if they want to have a chance to make the postseason.
Look for the combination of Andre Drummond, Guerschon Yabusele and even Adem Bona to see more time if head coach Nick Nurse wants to ease Embiid back into things.
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