The Philadelphia 76ers' chase for a playoff spot just took a major hit.
Star centre Joel Embiid has been diagnosed with appendicitis and will undergo surgery on Thursday afternoon in Houston, the team announced.
He'd already been ruled out for the 76ers' game against the Rockets due to illness, per the team's injury report, but no further timeline has been announced.
Philadelphia coach Nick Nurse said Embiid remained in surgery about 90 minutes before the start of the 76ers' game at Houston. The coach said Embiid felt fine in practice on Wednesday before he learned of the situation Thursday morning.
The 76ers later shared that Embiid's appendectomy was successful.
“I was told this morning, but they had said that he had in the middle of the night, like 3, 3:30 or something, contacted them to say he was not feeling well,” Nurse said. “And so I think that’s kind of when this particular incident started.”
Nurse said the team learned of Embiid's diagnosis while preparing for the game.
“They finally got him to the doctor and they had the scan and then decided they needed to do the surgery here in Houston,” Nurse said.
The coach did not give a timetable for Embiid's return, but it seems unlikely that the former MVP would be able to return for the play-in tournament or the first round of the playoffs.
“It is a tough blow,” Nurse said. “I think that the biggest thing right now is that Joel comes out of the surgery as best as possible and all that goes well. That’s where most of my thoughts are right now.”
Embiid last played on Monday, putting up 34 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks in a loss to Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs.
The Cameroonian big man has been limited to just 38 games this season due to knee and oblique injuries, averaging 26.9 points, 7.7 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.2 blocks. With his absence on Thursday, Embiid fell short of playing at least half the season for a third consecutive year.
Embiid's diagnosis is a blow to the 76ers' playoff hopes, as the team entered Thursday as the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference and just 0.5 games back of the Orlando Magic. Philadelphia can finish as high as fifth or as low as ninth in the East with just three games remaining.
“They’ve played different stretches of the year without him,” Nurse said. “As far as what we do personnel-wise, we’ve got (Adem) Bona, we got (Andre) Drummond and we’ll use them both. And then hopefully we can use (Thursday) and (Friday) and Sunday get back to getting used to that scenario again.”
The 76ers are hoping to make the playoffs for an eighth consecutive season and advance beyond the second round for the first time since 2001.
It's pursuit that's been burdened by multiple absences from the likes of Embiid and Maxey, who recently returned from a 10-game injury stint, and Paul George, who missed 25 games due to suspension.
Embiid expressed his frustrations with Daryl Morey, the 76ers president of basketball operations, on Friday night for not allowing him to play in Washington last week.
“I was pissed off. I wanted to play basketball,” Embiid said. “I wasn’t allowed to play basketball, so I think this is more of a question of Daryl Morey or whoever makes the decisions.”
–With files from The Associated Press
