Joel Embiid to undergo procedure to address meniscus injury

Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid, the league's reigning MVP, will undergo a procedure to repair a left meniscus injury in the coming days, the team announced Sunday night, and “the door is not closed” for a return this season, according to sources. told ESPN.

Embiid is expected to miss an extended period of time, but a more specific timetable is not expected until doctors complete the procedure, sources said.

Embiid has dealt with injuries to both knees during his career, and this one comes at an inopportune time for him and the Sixers. The All-Star center leads the NBA in scoring with 35.3 points per game and was on pace to join Wilt Chamberlain as the only other players to average at least 35 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists over a season. He is also the only player, besides Chamberlain in 1961-62, to average at least one point per minute played.

Embiid, 29, missed Game 5 of the 2021 first-round playoff series against the Washington Wizards due to a small meniscus tear in his right knee and underwent season-ending surgery on his left meniscus in 2016 -17, missing 37 games.

Embiid had a 22-game streak of at least 30 points that ended Tuesday in a loss to the Golden State Warriors, a streak that was the fifth longest in league history. Embiid suffered a meniscus injury in the fourth quarter, when Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga fell to his knee.

The 76ers have struggled to remove Embiid from the lineup, losing 10 of 14 games without him this season. Philadelphia is 30-18 and entered Sunday night's games ranked fifth in the Eastern Conference. The Sixers are 26-8 with Embiid on the floor this season.

Embiid will fall well short of the league minimum of 65 games to earn playoff accolades, stuck at 34 games now.

ESPN Stats & Information contributed to this report.