Philadelphia 76ers Star Center Joel Embiid provides a healthy update before Friday’s 76ers media day and next week’s early preseason showdown with the New York Knicks in Abu Dhabi.
Joel Embiid underwent arthroscopic knee surgery in April
Injury plagued him with his first conversation with reporters in the months after the 2024-25 season. Seven All-Star games last season were limited to 19 games due to his ongoing left knee injury and sprained foot.
“I feel good,” Embiid said. “I think we’ve made a lot of progress over the past few months. We’ve made a plan to try to check all the boxes, just do it every day.”
“Everything goes as planned. There is no need to be expectations,” Embiid continued. “It’s all about making sure everything is right and doing everything right from there and then doing it from there. Obviously, the goal is to always work, not what we stand last year.”
Last season, Embiid averaged 23.8 points per game, his fewest since the 2019-20 season and 8.2 rebounds, the fewest since the former NBA MVP since 2016-17 rookies.
He underwent arthroscopy on his left knee in April.
Embiid does not provide a schedule for his return
The reporter then asked Embiid if there were any adjustments on the court that he could move forward to avoid another season-end injury.
“Sometimes you can’t get rid of yourself,” he said. “What I know is that since I started this, I’ve been trying to play, both ends have worked. Whether it’s offense or defense, there are a lot of people in the league playing on one side. A lot of the time, my mindset is to do anything to win. For my entire career, both have to be done.”
“I got to this point because I was doing great on both ends of the floor. If you asked me to change the way I play, my only guess is to be completely offensive and stand out on defense, which is not for me.
“I don’t think I’ll never. I don’t know. We’ll just wait and see. If that’s the case, it’ll definitely be a tweak, but I can’t see that.”
Additionally, the 7-foot man rolled out his plan for the upcoming season reporter, noting that “we just have to listen to the body” and that “we have to take it every day and go there from there.”
However, Embiid did not provide a schedule for his return.
The latest update is not reassuring as there are 76ers fans who hope the former first-rounder is finally healthy after spending a lot of time on the bench last year.
