PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia 76ers are inching closer to the finish line of what has been a disastrous 2024-25 season. Nothing has gone as planned in the City of Brotherly Love as Joel Embiid played in only 19 games, Paul George was limited to 41, and Tyrese Maxey hasn't played since March 3 and is at 52 games.
Embiid is set to undergo arthroscopic surgery on his left knee in the coming weeks as he hopes to fix the issue for good and get back to his dominant self on the floor. In the 19 games he did play in, he was clearly not himself as his efficiency was down and he didn't trust the knee.
As he gets set to undergo his second knee procedure in 14 months, coach Nick Nurse gave words of encouragement to the big fella.
"Anybody on our team that’s getting a procedure, I think we’re concerned of how they’re gonna respond," Nurse said before a loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday. "You can throw Jared (McCain) in there, but we still have concern of how does it respond and how does it go? And what level of strength on all the things that go into coming back. We’re all hoping—Joel first and foremost—that he can get back to being himself and that’s what we’re shooting for."
Embiid averaged 23.8 points in the 2024-25 season, but he shot only 44.4% from the floor and 29.9% from deep. His free throw attempts also dipped to 8.9 per game--his lowest since the 2019-20 season (8.5).
The Sixers and Embiid consulted with a number of doctors in order to come up with the right decision to move forward with. The hope and expectation now is that the surgery will help him move forward and return healthy in the 2025-26 season when the Sixers still expect to contend for a title with the talent they possess.
"It was a lot of different people that he saw," Nurse added. "A lot of information to get through and this is where they landed. I think it’s gonna be next week some time. Just kind of the same. There’s a lot of paths and this is the one they decided to go with."
Meanwhile, on the court, the Sixers have five games left starting with a matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday.
This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: Nick Nurse reacts to Sixers star Joel Embiid undergoing knee surgery
