Joel Embiid’s MVP dreams die as he will undergo surgical procedure on injured left knee

It seems like Joel Embiid’s hopes of contesting for a second-consecutive MVP award have come to an end, as it has been confirmed this Sunday that the Sixers star will undergo surgical procedure this week to correct his injury to the lateral meniscus on his left knee.

Even though the Philadelphia organization hasn’t announced for how long their big man will be out, they did insinuate it would be for an extended period of time. NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski was one of the first to the scene and reported on the matter this past weekend.

“Philadelphia star Joel Embiid, the reigning MVP, will undergo a procedure to address a left meniscus injury in the coming days, the team announced on Sunday night, and the ‘door isn’t closed’ on a return this season, sources told ESPN,” he posted on X. “Embiid is expected to miss an extended period of time, but a more precise timeline isn’t expected until doctors complete the procedure, sources said.”

Joel Embiid will undergo procedure on his left meniscus and is expected to "miss an extended period of time," per @wojespn pic.twitter.com/bz9jtUxvlY

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 5, 2024

His coach Nick Nurse knows how important his center star has been this season, as the 76ers are 4-10 without Embiid so far this campaign. “We had some shaky performances,” he said last week. “Then we kind of got in a groove and had some good ones. We got a bunch of good road wins without him. We kind of knew, we’ve got to be able to survive without him.”

As Joel has already missed out on 13 matches, his chances of being eligible for a second-straight MVP award are doomed. The league established a rule this tournament that requires players to play in at least 65 regular-season games to be eligible for these accolades.

“I’ve already done it,” Embiid said. “If I have a chance to get a second one, I’ll do it. I’m not going to force myself or push for it. My game is always going to speak for itself. We’re winning. That’s the main thing. We’ve got to keep winning and you put in the stats to be in the (MVP) conversation that’s great, too. But at the end of the day, if there’s something going on, and I can’t meet the requirement for the amount of games played to qualify for that, then so be it.”

Most experts consider Embiid to be leading the MVP race halfway through the campaign, as he’s the league-leading scorer at 35.3 points per match, along with averages of 11.3 rebounds and 5.7 assists. Not too long ago he dropped a franchise-record 70 points in a convincing victory over the Spurs.

Ex-NBA champion Kendrick Perkins  recommends shutting down the big man for the rest of the season

ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins, who just a couple of days ago criticized the big man, now radically changed his opinion over the athlete’s health issue. First he questioned the authenticity of the injury claims when he missed out on an important match against Nikola Jokic’s Nuggets.

“He’s been scared for the last four years. I don’t want to hear anything about swelling in his knee because he played on a back-to-back when Jokic came into town on Philly and made sure he made himself available. Like what’s really going on?” he claimed on air.

Now that the 76ers announced the gravity of the situation with his knee, the former Celtics player wishes Joel would stay sidelined for as long as he can before returning to the NBA courts.

“If I’m the 76ers, I’ll shut Joel Embiid down for this season. for the simple fact, this is going to, like, this is going to continue to get worse. Like he’s not going to come back and be like pain-free,” he said last week. “You want him to have an opportunity to heal up and then you go into next season you re-sign Tyrese Maxey, you search the market because you got so much cap space and now you get a healthier Joel Embiid.”