Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid has a bruised bone in his left knee and will be re-evaluated in two weeks, the team announced on Saturday.
An MRI scan late Friday revealed no structural damage to the knee that Embiid sustained in a win over the Washington Wizards, sources told ESPN. Embiid underwent the MRI immediately after returning to Philadelphia on Friday night, the sources added.
Embiid’s ACL and meniscus are fine, and there is considerable relief within the Sixers that the injury isn’t much worse.
Embiid left Friday night’s game when he bent his left knee after falling with all his weight on his leg after a dive in the third quarter.
The center was in the midst of the last dominant performance of his MVP caliber season, scoring 23 points on 8 of 11 shots to guide 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks in 20 minutes when he caught a pass from Tobias Harris.
But when Embiid fell after the dive, the full weight of his body landed on that left leg, bruising and writhing in pain.
After lying on the floor for a few minutes, Embiid finally got to his feet and walked away on his own, albeit with a rather pronounced limp, as he walked straight back to the visitors’ locker room in Washington’s Capital One Arena.
Embiid had an equally terrifying situation last month when he injured his right knee in a fall against the Portland Trail Blazers after blocking a shot from Enes Kanter.