Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid was discontinued by a 2003 NBA Draft class member who retired in 2022.
After the offseason of the blockbuster, the Philadelphia 76ers were expected to enter the 2024-25 NBA season.
But things weren’t planned for the team, mainly due to Joel Embiid’s repeated injuries. Embiid announced he will not play in consecutive games this season to focus on his health.
Fans criticized Embiid for the decision, but many still hoped he would appear in the huge chunk of the season. Unfortunately, the regular season is not over, and the previous NBA MVPs have been closed for a long time.
Injuries have always been the biggest obstacle for the 76ers superstar. For example, despite being drafted in the 2014 NBA Draft, Embiid didn’t play the first two seasons of his NBA career due to injury.
Fast forward to 2025 Embiid has been in the NBA for over a decade and has been featured in just 452 games. But that’s not even the craziest part.
NBA legend Carmelo Anthony is scheduled to be inducted into the Hall of Fame in the 2025 class and has played more games than Embiid since the 2014-15 NBA season.
No, I’m not kidding. Anthony played 470 games from 2014-15 to 2021-22. Despite retiring for three years, Mello has more games under his belt than Embiid.
Embiid’s left knee injury has been restricted to playing only 19 games this season at the 31-year-old. The 76ers have decided to close the Superstar to avoid prolonged damage to the knees.
That said, NBA insider Shams Charania recently reported that Embiid is all going to undergo arthroscopic surgery on his left knee.
“Embiid said he was reevaluated six weeks after surgery and expected to have full recovery. This would mark Embiid’s second surgery in his left knee over the past 14 months,” Charania wrote to X.
Meanwhile, the 76ers will miss the playoffs for the first time since the 2016-17 season. They have competed in five Eastern Conference semi-finals on their past seven trips into the postseason.