Joel Embiid out for season: Impact for 76ers, future - ESPN

After the Philadelphia 76ers officially ruled out big man Joel Embiid for the season, ESPN's NBA insiders are breaking down how the 2023 MVP and Philly got here, plus what's next for all sides.

Joel Embiid was in the midst of one of the most dominant scoring seasons in NBA history before Golden State Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga accidentally fell onto his left leg on Jan. 30, 2024. Prior to that moment, Embiid had scored more points than minutes played in the 2023-24 season, something no player had accomplished since Wilt Chamberlain more than 60 years ago.

Embiid had a procedure on that left knee a short time later, and it has remained a constant source of trouble for him for the past calendar year, up to when he and the Philadelphia 76ers decided Friday that his 2024-25 season was done.

While Embiid came back near the end of the 2023-24 regular season and played in Philadelphia's six-game loss to the New York Knicks in the first round of the playoffs, he was clearly less than 100%. (It was exacerbated by him dealing with a bout of Bell's palsy during that series, too.)

Yet, Embiid was still a force in that series, averaging 33.0 points, 10.8 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game. That performance was encouraging enough that Embiid was expected to put up a strong performance for Team USA in the Paris Olympics before being ready to go for training camp in the fall. But while Embiid did win a gold medal with Team USA, he struggled for large portions of the run while playing with a bulky brace on his left knee — though he did have a strong performance in the fourth quarter of the team's legendary semifinal comeback against Nikola Jokic and Serbia.

Embiid arrived for training camp unable to get started on time. What