Joel Embiid’s injury-riddled, still-young basketball career just suffered another blow.
[The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Keith Pompey][1] reported Saturday the 7-footer from Kansas, who just sat out what would have been his rookie season with the 76ers, will have a second surgery on his right foot after suffering a setback in his healing process.
What’s more, a source tole The Inquirer a “great possibility” exists that Embiid won’t begin his NBA career in the coming 2015-16 season, either. Philadelphia could opt to once again have him sit out.
According to sources,#Sixers center Joel Embiid will have a second surgery and is likely to miss 2015-16 season. http://t.co/vHKWdIi0b0
— Keith Pompey (@PompeyOnSixers) July 11, 2015
Pompey reported the Sixers, who just took big man Jahlil Okafor out of Duke with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2015 NBA draft a year after selecting Embiid, are planning as if their 2014 lottery pick from Cameroon won’t play in what should have been his second season.
https://instagram.com/p/4xumXQlrhd/
Another source said the organization wonders whether this latest recovery obstacle could be career-threatening.
Expected by many to be taken No. 1 overall in the 2014 draft, Embiid suffered a stress fracture in the navicular bone in his right foot weeks before the draft. Cleveland and Milwaukee passed on the injury-prone post player, who also missed time at KU with a stress fracture in his back. The Sixers took a gamble on him, and appear once again prepared to not rush him back from this latest blow.
According to The Inquirer, the Sixers are expected to release a statement about Embiid’s immediate future in the coming days.
Embiid hasn’t spoken publicly on the matter, but posted a message on his Instagram account before the news broke:
“My time is coming… Too blessed to be stressed.”
https://instagram.com/p/47wz3tlrsY/
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[1]: http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/deep-sixer/Embiid-likely-to-miss-season-after-2d-surgery.html?ref=facebook.com&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
[2]: http://www2.kusports.com/news/mens_basketball/hawks_nba/
[3]: https://twitter.com/BentonASmith
