After reports started flooding the internet this Thursday night revealing that Joel Embiid would be out indefinitely due to a lateral meniscus injury, the NBA world was left in shock as the Sixers center had been dominating the league. However, an NBA champion had no time to lament the situation, and already delivered some bold advice for the Philadelphia organization.
ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins, who just a couple of days ago criticized the big man, now radically changed his opinion over the athlete’s health issue. First he questioned the authenticity of the injury claims when he missed out on an important match against Nikola Jokic’s Nuggets.
“He’s been scared for the last four years. I don’t want to hear anything about swelling in his knee because he played on a back-to-back when Jokic came into town on Philly and made sure he made himself available. Like what’s really going on?” he claimed on air.
Now that the 76ers announced the gravity of the situation with his knee, the former Celtics player wishes Joel would stay sidelined for as long as he can before returning to the NBA courts.
“If I’m the 76ers, I’ll shut Joel Embiid down for this season. for the simple fact, this is going to, like, this is going to continue to get worse. Like he’s not going to come back and be like pain-free,” he said on Thursday evening. “You want him to have an opportunity to heal up and then you go into next season you re-sign Tyrese Maxey, you search the market because you got so much cap space and now you get a healthier Joel Embiid.”
The NBA decided to implement a rule this season that establishes that players must participate in a certain number of matches to be considered eligible for major awards at the end of the year. However, midway through this campaign, lots of athletes have been complaining about the newest regulation.
As the news of the reigning MVP’s injury surfaced the internet, many fans have insisted that the league is to blame for his situation.
Draymond Green claims Embiid played through injury due to pressure of 65-game award threshold
One of the last to voice out their frustration was Draymond Green, who took his thoughts to his own podcast show and said that this 65-game threshold is forcing players to play while injured. He was mostly talking about Joel Embiid, who played against him on Tuesday night despite the Sixers center dealing with a knee injury and even had to leave the contest after a collision.
“Joel comes out there tonight and he forces it,” claimed the Warriors forward. “Now we’ve got one of our premier faces in this league, the MVP of our league, possibly hurt for an extended period of time because he’s forcing it.”
IF Joel Embiid requires surgery on his meniscus, he could be out for the remainder of the season. @ProFootballDoc shares his analysis of the MVP’s injury. #BrotherlyLove
Watch: https://t.co/bY0juQaM0K pic.twitter.com/gdXS1bfCba
— Sports Injury Central (@SICscore) February 2, 2024
When asked about the newest player policy, Tyrese Haliburton explained why he believes this threshold is rather unfair. “I think it’s a stupid rule, like plenty of the guys in the league, but this is what the owners want, so as players, we gotta do our job and play in 65 games if we’re able to,” the Indiana star said after Monday’s practice.
“So, that’s what I gotta do, take care of my body to be able to play in those games, and I think you’re seeing other players in the league kind of face the same thing. As long as the owners are happy,” he added.
