It Sounds Like Nobody Will Ever Know When Joel Embiid Is Going To Play Basketball Again, And It'll Just Be A Surprise Every Day
The Sixers are all back in town with training camp getting underway, and Joel Embiid gave a little update on his health heading into the season. You might remember the ESPN article from over the summer when he opened up about all the health issues he's dealt with over the years, and how he feels like almost all of them have been mismanaged by the team's medical staff. He also said it was partially his own fault for always pushing himself to return from injuries sooner than he should have. But it definitely seems like he always felt pressure from the organization to never give his body a chance to return back to 100% after all the injuries started stacking up.
So heading into this year, they have a new plan in place. That plan is for Embiid to basically wake up every morning and decide if he feels good enough to play basketball that day. He looks pretty good, and he sounds about as optimistic about his health as he has in a while. But even still, the Sixers have no idea when Embiid is going to return to playing again.
The Sixers don't know when he's going to play again. The medical staff doesn't know when he's going to play again. Joel doesn't even fully know when he's going to play again.
So for anybody who has ever been sick of all the confusion around Joel Embiid's health, and the constant guessing game of whether or not he's going to be in the lineup? Well then I've got bad news for you, cowboy, because it's only going to get worse this season.
All things considered, it's the right move. The Sixers are paying Joel $62 million per year. For the first time in his career, they are finally going to attempt to protect their asset and prioritize his health. There are only so many miles left on that engine, and the Sixers need to find a way to stretch them out as much as they can. If that means they have to spend the entire season going day-by-day with his status? Then it is what it is. Maybe that'll get him to 2028-29 instead of being completely broken down by the end of this year.
This isn't necessarily a bad health update. It's not to say that things aren't progressing in the right direction. It's just that you're never actually going to know when Joel Embiid is going to be playing basketball this season on a nightly basis. If you want a bad medical update, the Sixers still have plenty of those to go around.
Cursed franchise.