Joel Embiid medical update.

Here is the entire statement sent over by the Sixers PR staff:

An MRI, which was reviewed by several orthopedic specialists, revealed that Joel Embiid has a small lateral meniscus tear in his right knee.

The injury will be managed with a physical therapy and treatment program. Embiid is OUT for tonight’s game vs. Washington and considered day-to-day.

What’s gonna happen now is that everybody in Philadelphia is going to become a doctor. A knee expert.

To provide a very basic understanding here, the meniscus acts as a cushion between your shinbone and thighbone. It’s a piece of cartilage shaped like a C. The most conservative treatment is ice, rest, medication, and then sometimes the injury will just heal on its own. Other times, surgery is required.

So, yes, Embiid can play through it. Best case scenario is they just manage the pain and swelling and then they go in to fix it surgically at the end of the year. It’s hard to know the severity of the tear without having a chart in front of your face, with a doctor next to you, but we’ll get some actual medical experts online to give us a proper outlook.

For what it’s worth, this is the same knee Embiid injured back in 2017, which led to surgery. That saga began much in the same way as this incident, with Joel coming down awkwardly on a dunk in a game against Portland.

We’ll keep posting updates as we get them.

Update 1:

Our former Investor is actually a doctor. Different discipline, but this is something worth considering –

Update 2  –

The Cuz was wrong, so unfortunately we have to put him in The Bagster:

Update 3 –

Here’s a bit of information specifying medial and lateral tears. Embiid’s is lateral, so it’s on the outside:

The menisci — the medial meniscus and lateral meniscus – are crescent-shaped bands of thick, rubbery cartilage attached to the shinbone (tibia). They act as shock absorbers and stabilize the knee. 

The medial meniscus is on the inner side of the knee joint. 

The lateral meniscus is on the outside of the knee.

Meniscus tears can vary widely in size and severity. A meniscus can be split in half, ripped around its circumference in the shape of a C or left hanging by a thread to the knee joint. A barely noticeable tear may resurface years later, triggered by something as simple as tripping over a sidewalk curb.