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Tim BontempsESPN
Philadelphia 76ers superstar Joel Embiid has an MRI after underlining his left knee in Friday night’s 127-101 win over the Washington Wizards, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Ambiid was in the midst of the latest dominant performance of his MVP caliber season and scored 23 points on 8-for-11 shooting to pass along with 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks in 20 minutes, when he scored a pass from Tobias gets Harris and flies for a dunk to give Philadelphia a 6-minute, 6-minute lead, 20 seconds left in the third quarter.
But when Embiid goes to the thin ground, his full body weight ends up on the left leg, causing it to lengthen, causing him to fall to the ground in excruciating pain.
After lying down for a few minutes, Embiid finally got up and walked away on his own – albeit with a fairly pronounced slackness – as he headed straight back to the visitors’ locker room inside the Capital One Arena in Washington.
Embiid is expected to undergo the MRI once the team returns to Philadelphia, sources said.
Embiid had a similarly dire situation last month when he underlined his right knee in an awkward fall against the Portland Trail Blazers after blocking an Enes Kanter suspension. In the game, Embiid returned a few minutes later and dominated, scoring 31 points in the first half in a game that Philadelphia eventually lost.
Philadelphia got Embiid back on Friday night after he and Ben Simmons missed Thursday’s Chicago victory over the Bulls – as well as Sunday’s All-Star game in Atlanta – due to contact detection due to a barber who visited both stars before left for Atlanta.
Simmons remains out Friday, but he is expected to return – if he accepts he has not yet had a positive Test for COVID-19 – for Sunday’s game in Philadelphia against the San Antonio Spurs.
On top of that, the Sixers stayed ahead of the Eastern Conference with Friday’s victory, and they reached a full game ahead of second-place Brooklyn Nets.