Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid was sacked to play against the Brooklyn Nets Saturday night after being listed as a questioner for a knee injury.
Recently, Embiid has dealt with its fair share of problems. Since the third game of the NBA season 2020-2021, the Sixers center has fought through back tension.
Last Wednesday, Embiid recovered from his back injury against the Los Angeles Lakers. Since hitting the floor during a dunk effort over LeBron James, Embiid has missed one out of four games.
Unfortunately, Embiid isn’t just fighting back tight right now. In addition to his initial effort, the big man is also dealing with a minor injury to his knee as well.
Thursday night in the carpet against the Portland Trail Blazers, Embiid suddenly landed after a block attempt and injured his knee.
Although his injury looked pretty bad at first, the Sixers let out a sigh of relief when they found out he was just hyperextended his knee.
Embiid was able to make his way back out to court on Thursday night to end the game. While he was able to play again, Embiid admitted he was not one hundred percent.
“As the game went on, I felt good,” Embiid explained Thursday. “I wasn’t all the way there, but I was just trying to push to make sure we got a chance. I feel good. I’ll see how it feels tomorrow when I wake up, but I should be fine. “
On Saturday, the Sixers weren’t sure if Embiid was able to push through the pain and play or not. After going through pregame warmth, Embiid was cleaned up by Philly’s training staff and put in the starting lineup.
Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter: @JGrasso_