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It has been a long, hard road for Joel Embiid over the last two seasons. He suffered a knee injury that need surgery, causing him to miss two months of the 2023-24 season. He returned for the playoffs, but issues with the knee remained, and as a result, he missed all but 19 games last season. Many wondered if we would ever see the Sixers’ big man anywhere near 100 percent again.
Is Joel Embiid all the way back?
If he isn’t, he’s getting awfully close.
After a slow start, Embiid’s rhythm on the court has returned. A season that began with limited expectations for the perennial All-Star has suddenly become a man, as they say, back on his BS.
Just as quickly as Embiid had vanished from the lineup with more knee soreness, his flow on the floor has returned, like getting back on a bicycle. His season that began as sluggish is now energetic, getting his groove back on both ends of the floor.
Over the last five weeks, he has played 14 of the Sixers’ 17 games, averaging 28.7 points and 8.1 rebounds per game, shooting 53.1% from the floor, and adding a block per contest.
Has he played well enough to earn his eighth All-Star Game appearance? His head coach, Nick Nurse, spoke on that recently.
“I think that Joel’s really worked hard. It’s been a difficult road,” said Nurse. “I mean, again, that was a super serious injury, right? As we see, everybody takes—it takes a while to get back from that. Again, we talk about just the sheer size even makes it harder. I think, for him to get back—and I don’t know about any of that stuff, awards or All-Star games or anything, I think he’s getting to a point where he’s starting to feel better, which is evident in the way he’s playing.”
While he has played just 25 of the Sixers’ 44 games, he’s averaging 25.1 PPG in those games. The only Eastern Conference forward who has a better scoring average is Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo (28.0), who was just placed on the injured list with a calf issue.
He may not be back at his peak powers, but he’s playing well enough to be celebrated next month at the All-Star game. Teammate Tyrese Maxey doesn’t have an official vote, but he made his position clear a few days ago.
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Dan Roche
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