A Bit of Clarity in the Embiid Situation

By Sean Kennedy (@PhillyFastBreak)

It only took nearly every Sixers site writing a similar variation of the same piece, plus even the national media latching on, but after weeks of silence, we finally have a bit of explanation as to why Joel Embiid’s surgery did not happen last month as originally indicated.

Sources: Joel Embiid hasn’t had surgery. Still scheduled. Delay bc he’s coming to terms. Also reached out to K Durant http://t.co/yxYOcOvYCM

— John Gonzalez (@gonzoCSN) August 11, 2015

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I would encourage you to read Gonzalez’ full report, but the gist is that, as many speculated, the reason for the delay in surgery was Embiid ‘coming to terms with the decision’. As part of his internalization process, the Sixers big man reached out to Kevin Durant, who had a bone graft procedure performed on his foot earlier this year (for you eternal optimists that hope Durant will have an impact for the Sixers one day, this is likely as close as it’ll ever get). There is still no timetable for the surgery, only that it will occur ‘in the near future’.

This news makes a lot of sense, as it can’t be at all an easy decision for Embiid to wrap his head around. Remember, he’s still just 21 years old and it’s only been a little over 4 years since he arrived in the US from Cameroon. During that time, he dealt with the tragic death of his younger brother last year, while also having suffered multiple injuries that have kept him off the court for years at a time. For a guy that wants to get out on the court and help his teammates, and feels good enough to play 3-on-3 and put on breathtaking dunk exhibitions and 3-point shooting displays, someone telling him he needs to go under the knife again has to be devastating news. I can’t imagine what’s going through the young man’s head and it’s perfectly reasonable for him to take some time to process everything.

Still, that’s not to say that the Sixers organization hasn’t made an absolute mess of the situation. If they knew there was hesitancy on Embiid’s part, they never should have put the 7-10 day timeline out there. Then, once they did, the team needed to address the situation somehow after that period of time had passed. Even just saying Embiid and the team were doing further consultations or something would have gone a long way to pacify the media and the fan base. In reality, we still haven’t even received any official word from the Sixers three weeks past that deadline; this latest news was just from Gonzalez’ sources.

In the end, everyone involved just wants what’s best for Joel to allow him to have a long, successful NBA career. The fans have shown a great deal of patience the last couple years; in return, we all just need a little more transparency like that which we just received.