The Philadelphia 76ers have essentially been two different teams during the 2023-24 NBA regular season. There is one version that has reigning MVP Joel Embiid and there is the version without him.
With Embiid on the court, the 76ers have been one of the best teams in the NBA. He has played in only 34 games this season, but when he is on the court, the team dominates. They are 26-8 with him out there.
Unfortunately, without him in the fold, Philadelphia is one of the worst teams in the NBA. To this point, they are 7-17 with him on the sidelines. It is hard to envision that record improving too much as they are now in a dogfight for one of the spots outside of the NBA Play-In Tournament in the Eastern Conference.
NBA NEWS & RUMORS: Joel Embiid & Philadelphia 76ers Updates
Right now, the plan for Embiid is to return to the court at some point. That is the goal he is working toward as he wants to play. As long as he is healthy, he will be out there regardless of where the 76ers are in the standings.
During his presser he did on Thursday, Embiid also revealed that he wasn’t anywhere near 100 percent healthy even when he was playing. He was attempting to manage the injury for about two months before taking the court on January 30th against the Golden State Warriors, the last time he played this season.
“For really, two months, I was not at 100 percent. I was not even close to it. And I just felt the need to give it my all to the team, and just wanted to win because I know I can add that to this basketball team,” Embiid said, via PHLY Sixers on X.
Based on those comments, Embiid was really only healthy for the first 14 games or so of the 2023-24 regular season. He missed his first game on November 22nd, which could have very easily been when the issues began popping up.
NBA NEWS & RUMORS: Joel Embiid & Philadelphia 76ers Updates
It is honorable that Embiid tried to battle through the pain for as long as he did as he wanted to be there for his teammates. But, 76ers ownership is going to have some major decisions to make this offseason.
Can they continue building their team, and title chances, around Embiid? He has never played in more than 68 games in a regular season, missing double-digit games in every year of his career to this point.
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