Joel Embiid suffered an injury during his one year at Kansas University, which forced him to miss the Big 12 tournament and the NCAA Tournament.
The Philadelphia 76ers knew he wouldn’t be available to play right away, but they were tanking and building for the future, so they took him with the third pick in the 2014 draft over players like Zach Lavine and Julius Randle, who could have played right away.
The 76ers patience paid off, and after sitting out his first two seasons, Embiid played 31 games in 2016-17, where he showed flashes of greatness as he averaged 20 and 7.8 rebounds in just 25 minutes. However, he finished the season with another injury and another surgery.
He played 50-plus games over the next five seasons, but things are going downhill fast now.
After playing 66 games in the 2022-2023 season and winning MVP, he has only played 58 games since.
This season was the worst of his career, as he shot just 44% from the field.
He is expected to undergo another procedure on his leg. Reports indicate that if he cannot return a year from now, the 76ers could seek a forced medical retirement.
If an independent doctor rules that Embiid can’t play, his salary will come off the Sixer’s books.
Embiid is owed 187 million dollars after this season. That includes a 67 million dollar player option for the 2028-2029 season.
We have seen quite a few players retire due to injuries, but forced retirements involving an independent doctor are rare and can be controversial.
If you remember back in the day, Darius Miles missed the 2006-2007 season and the 2007-2008 season. The Blazer still owed miles $18 million, so they had an independent doctor examine him.
The doctor determined Miles could no longer play, and the Blazers waved him.
That move would have allowed them to use the freed-up cap space during free agency in the summer.
However, Miles was unwilling to give up his career, and everyone in the NBA knew that if they signed Miles and he played 10 games, the $18 million would go back on the Blazer’s books.
The Memphis Grizzles ruined their Western Conference rival’s cap space by signing Miles to a contract on December 13th, 2008. They waived him less than a month later.
The Blazers were enraged and threatened to sue any team that signed Miles.
The Grizzles were not worried about their threats, and eventually, they signed Miles to several 10-day contracts before locking him up for the rest of the season.
He ended up playing 34 games with the team but averaged just 3.5 points in 8.8 minutes. He was waved at the end of the season and never played in the NBA again.
Chris Bosh was in a similar situation as his blood clotting issues were determined to be career-ending. After the Heat waived him, Bosh declared he wasn’t done playing.
However, no other team signed him, and in February 2019, three years after his last NBA game, he announced his retirement.
If Embiid is ruled unable to play, it will be interesting to see if he fights the ruling and tries to join a different team as Miles did.
