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Tim BontempsESPN
Philadelphia 76ers superstar center Joel Embiid will undergo an MRI after hyperextending his left knee in Friday night’s 127-101 win over the Washington Wizards, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski
Embiid was in the middle of the last dominant performance of his MVP caliber season, scoring 23 points on 8-for-11 shooting to go along with 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks in 20 minutes when he caught a pass from Tobias. Harris and flew in for a dunk to give Philadelphia an 80-60 lead with 6 minutes, 20 seconds to go in the third quarter.
But when Embiid went to the ground after the dunk, his full body weight landed on the left leg – hyperextending it, causing him to fall to the floor in immense pain.
After sitting for a few minutes, Embiid finally got to his feet and walked away on his own – albeit with a rather pronounced limp – as he went straight back to the attendees’ dressing room at the Capital One Arena in Washington.
Embiid is expected to undergo the MRI once the team travels back to Philadelphia, sources said.
Embiid had a similarly terrifying situation last month when he hyperextended his right knee in an uncomfortable fall against the Portland Trail Blazers after blocking an Enes Kanter lay-up. In that match, Embiid returned a few minutes later and dominated, scoring 31 points in the first half in a matchup that Philadelphia eventually lost.
Philadelphia got Embiid back on Friday night after both he and Ben Simmons missed Thursday’s victory in Chicago over the Bulls – as well as Sunday’s All-Star Game in Atlanta – due to contact tracking from a hairdresser that both stars visited before leaving for Atlanta.
Simmons stayed out on Friday, but was expected to return – assuming he doesn’t have a positive test for COVID-19 before then – for Sunday’s game in Philadelphia against the San Antonio Spurs.
The Sixers stayed on top of the Eastern Conference with Friday’s win, pushing a full game ahead of second-place Brooklyn Nets.