Every day normal people like us do their tarot readings. They’ve been Joel Embiid centric for a while now. However, for months it’s been something vague like “more Embiid discourse coming today.” They never say whether or not I should be prepared to either cry or post really dumb stuff on a burner account.
Just kidding. I do that stuff on main. It distracts me from things like what you’re about to read. Nicolas Batum had something to say about the condition of Joel Embiid’s knee:
"I was sitting next to him in the locker room. I saw his knee before every game, after every game. I saw his knee, I have no idea how he could even walk."
— Philly Sixers Galaxy (@sixers_galaxy) July 16, 2025
- Nicolas Batum told @YNGNKL about seeing Joel Embiid’s knee last season pic.twitter.com/nXjdRfV7UD
Time moves incredibly slowly. We are only two years removed from Joel Embiid winning MVP. We are about a year and a half since Joel Embiid was putting up better numbers than Wilt Chamberlain to start a season. He is a seven-time All-Star, five-time All-NBA, three-time All-Defense, and two-time scoring champion. Olympic Gold Medalist. International Star. Enemy of France. People seem to forget these things.
Instead, what seems to get brought up more are the things he hasn’t done. He has not made a deep run in the playoffs. His legs have repeated issues, but beyond that he gets flukey injuries from time to time. I once heard someone call him “Ralph Sampson with modern medicine.”
It’s really a matter, at this point, of just keeping him safe and secure for a healthy run in the postseason. Whatever regular season accolades he might care to add to his resume, it’s not about that in many people’s minds. (Of course what matter’s is what’s in Embiid’s mind, but you know. Athletes aren’t people. Athletes are food.) Bubble wrap if necessary, some might say. That’d be weird though.
Anyway, if you felt your hope was already just a little bit under attack today, I’m sorry you had to see that tweet. Maybe do some breathing exercises. Inhale from the inside of the elbow. Trust me. I’ve been seeing a chiropractor.
That knee, man. What are we going to do about that knee?
NBA players need legs. NBA players perform many actions with their legs such as running, shuffling, jumping, sliding, backpedaling, pushing, pulling, holding position, and so on. While there are forms of basketball that do not necessarily require legs and those forms are awesome, the NBA is still the most well-funded and well-recognized league in the world. Crutches, wheelchairs, jetpacks, wizard brooms, and so on are out of the question. The NBA makes the rules.
So if Joel Embiid wants to once again be at the top of the league and get the Philadelphia 76ers to the NBA Finals, he will have to find a way to have two working legs again for at least a few months at a time. There have been so many surgeries, so many rehabs, so many setbacks so many times over that, honestly, it feels like a miracle he was able to string together so many healthy seasons at all.
I want to see Embiid return to start level, even if he never gets to be next-millenium Wilt again. I feel like I’ve been able to follow his entire career as a writer. I made GIFs of him dancing. I’m not quite ready to think the knee is just done.
So hopefully it’s just really gnarly looking and in great shape. I’ve read that the uglier a thing is, the more really good it is. No, for real! I heard that!