Will Joel Embiid return to the NBA this season?

Joel Embiid has been out since January 30th of this year, when he injured his meniscus in a game against Golden State and an MRI revealed a foot injury. He underwent surgery shortly after. However, he still believes he can return at least for the end of the regular season.

Up until the injury, Joel Embiid was dominating

The top scorer from the last two seasons and the reigning MVP from last season, when he broke Nikola Jokic’s dominance, was poised to defend those awards this season.

Shooting wise, he had the best season of his career, averaging over 35 points per game. He broke the 50-point mark in a game several times. And he also had a 70-point performance against the San Antonio Spurs. But health eventually betrayed him. Joel Embiid lost the opportunity to fight for the most valuable trophies this season.

After signing a new collective bargaining agreement, the NBA has a clause that allows each player to miss a maximum of 17 games out of 82 games in a season in order to be eligible for any individual trophy. Or to be nominated for the All-Star team of the season.

So Embiid handed the scoring crown to Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks early. And the MVP of the season award was apparently passed to Jokic for a change. But back to the injury. This is, in fact, a disaster for his team, the Philadelphia 76ers.

With Embiid in the lineup, the 76ers were a terror, ranked among the league’s narrowest. But without their best player, they are quickly losing the lead they built in the first half of the season and are falling down the Eastern Conference table.

Currently, Philadelphia is in 5th place with 33-25 record and without their star player they are collecting defeats. It is a relatively easy scalp for the stronger teams.

Philadelphia without Embiid is struggling

Embiid told the media that he is very hopeful of returning to the boards before the end of the regular season. At least that’s the prognosis if everything goes smoothly. However, the outlook for the 76ers is not very optimistic. Philadelphia has a 4-8 record in its last 12 games without its mainstay. Obviously, if it continues like this for the rest of the season, it may be worried about the playoffs.

Of course, Embiid’s dream of winning an Olympic gold medal at the Paris Games has also vanished. But it’s not such a fatal blow here for a surely stacked U.S. team. Anyway, let’s hope he gets his health back on track.

Fans love the NBA mostly because of the stars of this great league and Joel Embiid has been inherently one of the best players in the competition for several years now. It is because of players like him and their incredible performances on the court that people watch basketball all over the world. If Joel is 100% healthy, there is no better shooter than him.

Source: NBA