Joel Embiid could miss next six months with broken foot
By Josh Hill
The NBA Draft’s landscape took a violent and sudden shift on Thursday afternoon when it was announced that possible No. 1 overall pick Joel Embiid was going to be having foot surgery to repair what amounts to a broken bone on the top of his foot. While this comes as a major surprise and is being disputed by Embiid’s camp, the bottom line is the Kansas big man’s stock has taken a rather significant hit.
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What people want to know is just how big the hit to Emiid’s stock is, and ESPN.com’s Chad Ford notes that it could be a rather long period of time that whoever drafts Embiid is without his services.
"The navicular bone is at the top of the foot, near the ankle. NBA team sources suggest this is a difficult bone to heal because of circulation issues. Sources say Embiid could be out four to six months. Some evidence, according to sources, indicates these types of stress fractures also are at great risk of recurrence."
You can find out where Ford has Embiid being taken in his latest mock draft — spoiler alert: it’s not No. 1 overall.
The question now becomes will Embiid fall out of the lottery now that we know his injuries are already starting to pile up before his career can even start. There were questions first about his back and now his broken foot is making scouts like him even less. There’s indeed much to love about Embiid’s size and his strength, but he’s not good on just one foot and it wouldn’t be surprising at all to see him fall at No. 7 with the Los Angeles Lakers or even to No. 10 and the Philadelphia 76ers second pick of the draft.