The Philadelphia 76ers announced Sunday that superstar center Joel Embiid will sit out for the remainder of the preseason due to left knee injury management.
Embiid wasn’t with the team on the start of its three-game preseason road trip to Iowa Friday and Boston on Saturday, instead meeting with doctors Thursday to check on the status of his left knee. That meeting went well, with sources saying that the goal is to put Embiid in the best possible position to make it through the season, and to have his knee as close to 100% as possible.
Last season, Embiid only played in one preseason game, and the expectation this year was that he would be a limited participant in the exhibition slate — if he wound up doing so at all.
Now, the first time he will wear a 76ers uniform this season won’t be until at least the season opener on Oct. 23 against the Milwaukee Bucks in Philadelphia.
Embiid, who played in 39 games last year after a knee injury in late January wiped out his chances of defending his MVP award, dropped 25 to 30 pounds of weight entering training camp — and has said he hopes to lose more — to take pressure off his knee.
Philadelphia enters this season with arguably the highest expectations it has had at any point during the Embiid Era after one of the best offseasons in the NBA. The 76ers landed Paul George as a free agent, extending both Embiid and Tyrese Maxey to long-term deals, retaining free agents Kelly Oubre Jr. and Kyle Lowry and signing Caleb Martin, Eric Gordon and Andre Drummond to fill out the team’s rotation.
George made his preseason debut Friday in Iowa, while all eight of those players sat out Saturday’s loss in Boston on the second night of a back-to-back.
