In a chat with the media this week, 76ers star Joel Embiid finally gave a response to the criticism over his recent comments. On the notion that he doesn’t want to play, Embiid shot down the idea and explained that he’s sacrificed far too much to be accused of skipping out.
“If your body doesn’t react well, and if your body tells you one thing, I mean I’ve done it. From what I can tell you, I’ve broken my face twice, I came back early with the risk of losing my vision. Had broken fingers, still came back. So I’m not going to sit here and be like, when I see people saying he doesn’t want to play, I’ve done way too much,” said Embiid via Kyle Neubeck. “I’ve done way too much for this city and putting myself at risk for people to be saying that.”
The situation with Joel Embiid is frustrating, to say the least. He missed two full seasons before making his NBA debut in 2017 and becoming a superstar for the 76ers. But despite his dominance, repeated health issues have limited the team’s success and they have yet to make it out of the second round.
This season, with Paul George and Joel Embiid, the Philadelphia 76ers were supposed to begin an epic redemption arc. Instead, neither player has made an appearance on the court four games in and the 76ers rank 12th in the East at 1-3.
After it was revealed that Joel would not play in any back-to-back games, it spurned backlash from the fans and even an investigation from the NBA itself. What they found was that the 76ers were not resting Embiid out of injury prevention, but out of injury treatment.
In the past, Embiid would try to play through some of these injuries but now he’s taking a different approach by ensuring his body has the proper time to heal.
To date, there is no confirmed timetable for Embiid’s recovery but with such an extensive injury history it’s probably best for the 76ers to play it safe and give him all the time that he needs to get back to full strength.
In the meantime, Embiid is tired of people questioning his commitment to the game. While some might accuse him of trying to lighten his load, years of hard work, dedication, and sacrifice are proof enough that he wants to be out there and lead his team.
This season, with injuries off the bat, Embiid will have an uphill climb when he returns to get the 76ers back into the playoff picture. He has yet to get any run time with his new co-star and chemistry will be hard to maintain with limited experience playing together.
We saw last season what it looks like when Embiid misses most of the regular season to return healthy for the playoffs and it didn’t work out so well given that they lost in the very first round. This time, let’s hope they adopt a different approach and that Embiid stays healthy enough to give his team a fair chance when it matters most.
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