Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid has been diagnosed with appendicitis and will undergo surgery this afternoon in Houston, the team announced Thursday.
Embiid reported feeling ill earlier in the day, per league sources, and the Sixers ruled him out for the game against the Houston Rockets.
While the team said further updates will be provided as appropriate, it is unclear how much time Embiid will miss.
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The game against the Rockets is the second of the 76ers’ three-game road trip and the first game of a back-to-back, with Philadelphia traveling to play against the Indiana Pacers on Friday. The team will then return home to play the Milwaukee Bucks in the regular-season finale.
With just three games remaining on their schedule, the 76ers will have to make their playoff push without their second-highest scorer for at least Thursday’s game. The Sixers can still finish as high as fifth or as low as 10th in the East.
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Philadelphia is 43-36 and in eighth place in the Eastern Conference. While the team is guaranteed to play at least one game after the regular season, they could also still move into the top six and avoid the Play-In Tournament altogether.
The impact of Embiid’s absence
Embiid’s emergency appendicitis required surgery and will keep him out of Thursday night’s matchup against the Rockets.
However, this could have implications for the 76ers that stretch far beyond Thursday night.
Embiid will most certainly be away from physical activity for 10-14 days. His recovery timeline to playing basketball will likely be longer than that. Therefore, unless the 76ers are still playing basketball in three weeks to a month, there is a very real possibility that Embiid’s season has come to an end.
Let’s say all goes well and he’s back in two weeks. If the 76ers defeat the Rockets and win their remaining two games, they can still avoid the Eastern Conference Play-In Tournament. A loss against Houston, however, goes a long way toward locking the Sixers into a Play-In game. That means Philadelphia would have to qualify for the playoffs without Embiid, as the Play-In begins next week.
Either way, this is a dramatic punch that the 76ers are going to have to endure. Not only will they have to navigate the most important game of the season without their best offensive player, but they will also have to navigate the near future without him.
Andre Drummond and Adem Bona, as always, will be the two centers for as long as Embiid is out of the lineup. Tyrese Maxey and Paul George will have a lot of responsibility fall upon them from an offensive standpoint. Winning in Houston against a Rockets team fighting for homecourt advantage will be an uphill climb, but the Sixers have won important games this season when shorthanded.