It been a long, long road. Let’s look at how we got here:

2014

March 1st: Embiid goes down with a back injury in a game for Kansas. It’s the last organized basketball game he’ll play until tonight. The Sixers retire Allen Iverson’s number 3.

March 3rd: Steve Keeley is nearly killed by a snow plow.

March 8th: Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 vanishes.

March 28th: The Eagles release DeSean Jackson.


May 20th: The Sixers get picks number 3 and 10 in the 2014 NBA Draft Lottery.

June 9th: Kyle makes huge mistake, hires Jim.

June 19th: Joel Embiid is shown to have broken his foot at some point in the pre-draft process. The presumptive #1 pick throws the top-3 projections in the draft into disarray.

June 26th: The Sixers draft Joel Embiid at number 3, spawning a million memes. Kyle writes a post titled “We May Be Nearing the End of the Dom Brown Era.”

July 17th: Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 is shot down over the Ukraine.

August 11th: Robin Williams dies.

September 8th: Joel Embiid tells Billboard that Nicki Minaj “got a big butt, and she uses it well.”

October 13th: John Wick is released.

October 16th: Joel’s younger brother Arthur dies in a car accident in Cameroon.

December 19th: The Phillies trade Jimmy Rollins to the Dodgers.

2015

January 6th: Embiid is reportedly sent home from a road trip to “focus on his conditioning” after he gains weight.

February 19th: The Sixers trade Michael Carter-Williams.

March 6th: The Sixers post video that shows Embiid dunking in between his legs in pre-game warmups.

March 9th: It’s reported Embiid has suffered a “minor setback.”

March 24th: A Germanwings A320-211 crashes into the Alps.

April 13th: Avengers: Age of Ultron is released.

April 18th: It’s reported that Embiid was previously fined by the team for issues with his work ethic.

June 2nd: FIFA President Sepp Blatter announces plans to resign, doesn’t.

June 14th: Adrian Wojnarowski reports that a scan of Embiid’s foot revealed “an issue in the healing process.”

June 25th: The Sixers draft Jahlil Okafor.

June 30th: Brett Brown says Embiid is 7’2″ now.

July 1st: Sam Hinkie fleeces the Kings for a first round pick, pick swap, Nik Stauskas and Carl Landry.

July 7th: RADIO WARS: A Rift Between Tony Bruno and Josh Innes May Doom the WIP Afternoon Show

July 11th: It’s announced that Embiid will have another surgery and miss his second full season.

July 21st: Embiid is spotted by TMZ walking around without a boot on.

July 29th: The Phillies trade Cole Hamels.

August 18th: Joel Embiid has his second surgery.

August 19th: The Phillies trade Chase Utley.

September 28th: NASA announces they found evidence of liquid water on Mars.

December 29th: The Eagles fire Chip Kelly.

2016

January 10th: David Bowie dies.

February: Embiid is sent to Qatar to work with a superteam of trainers and doctors in his rehab process.

March 6th: Nancy Reagan dies.

April 6th: Sam Hinkie resigns.

June 23rd: The UK votes to leave the European Union.

July 23rd: Videos emerge of Embiid training and also beating Justin Bieber in an arm wrestling match.

August 5th: The Rio Olympics begin.

September 14th: The Ringer drops a mockumentary about Joel Embiid’s career and an article hyping him up as the NBA’s next great big man, if healthy.

September 25th: Arnold Palmer dies.

And tonight, finally, it happens: October 4th: Joel Embiid is set to make his NBA pre-season debut, his first basketball game in 948 days. Trust the process.