Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid suffered a lateral meniscus injury in his left knee after falling on Golden State Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga's leg during Tuesday night's game, the Sixers announced Thursday.
Embiid will be out all weekend while treatment options for the injury continue to be explored. Sources told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski that there is still uncertainty about how Embiid and the 76ers will move forward with the treatment plan for the injury, and that options will be discussed in the next few days.
After missing three games last month with a sore left knee, Embiid sat out Saturday's game at Denver and Monday's game against the Portland Trail Blazers because of the same issue. He returned Tuesday night against Golden State, but spent the entire game laboring on the knee.
The injury occurred in the fourth quarter when Kuminga inadvertently fell on Embiid while chasing a loose ball. Embiid eventually left the court under his own power. He and the Sixers have spent the past two days evaluating the injury and exploring possible treatment options.
Embiid, the NBA's Most Valuable Player, leads the NBA in scoring, averaging 35.3 points per game along with 11.3 rebounds and 5.7 assists. He scored 70 points last week against the San Antonio Spurs and currently has more points than minutes played this season — only Wilt Chamberlain has done in an entire season.
He had already been ruled out of Thursday night's game at Utah, the 13th game Embiid has missed. A player cannot miss more than 17 games to be eligible for the league's major awards, including MVP and All-NBA, as part of the league's new player participation policy implemented this season.
Embiid was named an All-Star starter last week and will be replaced by NBA commissioner Adam Silver ahead of the game in Indianapolis later this month.
