76ers shut Joel Embiid down for rest of 2024-25 season

76ers shut Joel Embiid down for rest of 2024-25 season

The Philadelphia 76ers have shut down center Joel Embiid for the remainder of the 2024-25 season due to a nagging left knee injury, ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania first reported Friday.

Philadelphia's Joel Embiid has been ruled out for the season. pic.twitter.com/5AHSkwHtPr

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 28, 2025

This comes days after it was reported that the 76ers were consulting doctors about “alternative options” to help heal Embiid’s knee after multiple remedies–including injections–were not helping.

Multiple lower body injuries have forced Embiid to appear in only 19 games this season. He averaged 23.8 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 4.5 assists, shooting just 44.4 percent from the floor, 29.9 percent from 3-point range, and 88.2 percent from the free-throw line.

As a result of the nagging knee injury, his scoring was down four points from his career average entering the season, while his effective field goal percentage was down 5.5 points. Not for a single second did he look right physically, which makes it all the more curious why he was allowed to play for Team USA last summer after tearing his meniscus in February of 2024. The “new normal” was never normal for anyone because he was never healthy.

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This is a smart move by Philadelphia, who has dropped ground in the play-in chase in recent weeks. Losers of nine straight, the 76ers are 20-38, three games back of the Bulls for the fourth-and-final play-in spot in the East.

Regardless of how you feel about Embiid, there would’ve been zero upside in trying to play him the rest of the season. They own a top-6 protected pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, so it’s much wiser to lean into that. Everyone can admit it’s a lost season and it’s time to figure out what it should do this summer with Paul George and Embiid, among others.

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