Joel Embiid’s injury status has somehow become a big mystery again

The 76ers’ star may miss the first game of the postseason with lingering left knee soreness ... and maybe more after that.

Joel Embiid is listed as doubtful for the Sixers opening game in the first round of the NBA playoffs against the Brooklyn Nets, and he’s bewildered about it. The 25-year-old All-Star who missed the first two-and-a-half seasons of his pro career to knee and foot injuries has soreness in his left knee yet again. According to TNT’s Ros Gold-Onwude, he has pain when jumping and landing, and the level varies by day.

Embiid’s health has been a topic of discussion again for Sixers fans. He missed the first eight games after the All-Star break, then six more games after that. He was “experiencing left knee soreness and will undergo treatment involving physical therapy and load management,” per the league in his first eight-game resting stint. An MRI revealed no structural damage in late February.

Since then, Philly has been careful with Embiid’s health. He sat out either the front or back end of back-to-backs, with the team citing “load management.” Yet in a battle to ensure a top-3 seed, Philly played Embiid 37 minutes against Milwaukee on April 4, and 41 minutes on March 20 against Boston. How much that hurt his recovery is debatable, but it couldn’t have helped. Embiid’s health is far more important than playoff positioning.

In separate press conferences ahead of the playoff series against the Nets, 76ers brass made vague statements regarding Embiid’s health. When asked if the games Embiid’s missed were because of load management or a knee injury, general manager Elton Brand dodged.

“I’m optimistic (Joel) plays this weekend, but it’s a combination of how he feels,” Brand said Wednesday. “I think he’ll present well and he’ll be ready, but we don’t know.”

“I’m optimistic (Joel) plays this weekend, but it’s a combination of how he feels. I think he’ll present well and he’ll be ready, but we don’t know.”#Sixers GM Elton Brand on the status of Joel Embiid for this weekend pic.twitter.com/DZ3qkmrpeX

— Dave Uram (@MrUram) April 11, 2019

Head coach Brett Brown stopped answering questions about Embiid’s injury entirely.

“The club will make the statement in a clearer way than I guess I have about Joel,” Brown said Wednesday. “I’m done with the Joel questions. We’ll put out something that’s fair. I get your questions, but I’m done answering those.”

#Sixers had a million opportunities tonight to make people feel better about Embiid's playoff availability .

Instead, this is where we ended up: https://t.co/po6yei3xaV pic.twitter.com/mguDEtFtra

— Kyle Neubeck (@KyleNeubeck) April 11, 2019

Embiid himself could only offer up an “I don’t know” statement, which is rare for a player known for being adamant to play through pain. “[It’s] just about the pain in my knee,” he said, according to the Philly Voice’s Kyle Neubeck. “Just got to keep working through it and see how I feel every day, and you never know what’s going to happen.”

Should Embiid miss time, the Nets will become a more competitive first-round opponent. The Sixers are thin on the inside with Boban Marjanovic unable to play big minutes and Amir Johnson undersized.

The Sixers simply can’t afford to miss Embiid for too long, even against Brooklyn.

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