Report: ‘[Sixers] and Joel Embiid will have to have some conversations about health’

The absolute dumpster vibes continue on this Sixers season from hell.

A multitude of reasons exist as to why the Philadelphia 76ers currently sit at 15-27 on the season. It has been a perfect storm of bad fortune, poor decisions, and rotten effort basicaly across the board. However, the eye of that storm is the health of Joel Embiid, who has only played in 13 of the Sixers’ 42 games thus far, and looked far short of his MVP self in most of those appearances. Embiid is currently on a week-to-week timeline to return after experiencing swelling in his surgically-repaired knee while rehabbing a foot injury.

On an edition of NBA Today earlier in the week, ESPN’s Shams Charania offered some sourced insight into the thinking behind closed doors in Sixers headquarters.

Below is the full transcript of Charania’s comments in the above video:

“The team and Joel Embiid will have to have some conversations about health because that has been the key word. I said that word yesterday. That has played such a big factor with the 76ers’ season. Just the unknowingness of whether he’s going to play on any given night, and from my understanding, even today from what I hear, Joel Embiid remains rehabbing, continuing to try to do everything he can to get back on the floor. But there have been frustrations, from my understanding, throughout the year of not having him there. That’s what goes into having an MVP-caliber player not be able to play. Practices one day, but not able to sometimes play. And he knows his body better than anyone else, and so, I think that there is that level of respect where a player may not feel ready based on how he is feeling because he knows himself better than anyone else does. But the way the 76ers’ season is going, and they do have a protected pick this year, so there is some level of incentive there that we have to speak to as well.”

A primary reading of these comments is that the Sixers are seeking more transparency and communication from Joel, which is a theme that bubbled up back in the players-only meeting towards the beginning of the season. As the old saying goes, it’s the uncertainty that kills you. The Sixers would probably be better off knowing for a fact that Embiid was out for “X-number” of weeks or months, rather than these constant day-to-day turning into week-to-week situations, in the hopes that he might be able to play a game or two here and there.

Embiid has long been overly protective of his injury situations and how they’re communicated, often to the detriment of both himself and the team. Judging from what Charania is saying, the Sixers may be seeking to wrest some degree of control back in their own direction. Regardless, a pessimistic outlook exists that none of this really matters. Joel’s knee situation doesn’t seem great, with swelling having happened on multiple occasions already following what would be classified as rest periods. Team Tank could get their wish and have him shut down, but there’s no guarantee we wouldn’t be back in a similar situation come next fall.

One thing I know for sure, we will continue ‘to have some conversations about health’ involving Joel Embiid for a long time to come.