Joel Embiid expects to rejoin the Sixers this season: ‘That’s the plan’

Swiftly sliding down the standings, the 76ers shouldn’t be armed with this much hope. Yet inside the team’s practice facility on Thursday, there was a clear sense of optimism from the Eastern Conference’s sixth-place team.

While the Sixers (33-25) have stumbled and stalled while losing 12 of their last 16 games, they remain confident that their trajectory will change if Joel Embiid returns.

In his first media availability since Jan. 25, the NBA’s reigning Most Valuable Player was asked if he’s coming back this season.

“That’s the plan,” he said. “Obviously, everything has to go right, as far as getting healthy and being as close as I’m supposed to be. But that’s the plan.”

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Embiid said there’s no timeline for his return. It all depends on how his body responds, especially after he begins ramping, he said.

“If it feels great then that’s good,” Embiid said. “If it doesn’t feel good, then you gotta keep going.”

However, the seven-time NBA All-Star is scheduled to be re-evaluated early next week. And recent reports suggest he could return in mid to late March.

While the timeline is still in flux, making a healthy return from meniscus surgery is important for Embiid no matter when it occurs.

“I just love playing basketball,” he said. “I just want to be on the floor as much as possible. I only have about 20 years to do this. So any chance that I get, I want to be on the floor. So it doesn’t matter where we are [in the standings], I don’t know, four, five, three, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11. It didn’t really matter where we are. I just want to play as much as we can and try to help us.”

The injury has not influenced his plans to play for U.S. basketball in this summer’s Paris Olympics. He’s taking the same mindset he’s applied to the Sixers season.

“If it feels good, then I’m playing. … The plan is to play,” he said. “Like I said, I don’t know how long it’s going to take. If it takes longer than the timeline is — as far as the games and the playoffs and whatever’s remaining — then you’ve got to make those decisions. But yeah, it’s about how I feel.”

Friday’s contest against the Charlotte Hornets will mark the 13th game that he’s missed since tearing the meniscus in his left knee in a loss to the Golden State Warriors. Embiid will have missed 25 games due to injury, ailment, illness, and rest after the Hornets game. As a result, he’s already surpassed the 17 games players are allowed to miss and remain eligible to defend his MVP award. According to the collective bargaining agreement, players are required to participate in a minimum of 65 games to be eligible for the NBA’s regular-season awards.

All of this comes while the 7-foot-2, 280-pounder is in the midst of a historic season.

He also averaged 35.3 points before the surgery. Embiid was seventh in rebounds (11.3), 11th in blocks (1.8), and averaged a career-best 5.7 assists in 34.0 minutes played. Embiid’s season highlight was a franchise-record 70 points against the San Antonio Spurs. He also had 18 rebounds and five assists in the Jan. 22 home victory.

However, his season averages won’t count in the official league statistical leaders lists. NBA players must compete in 70% of their games for their statistics to be recognized. After missing Tuesday’s loss to the Boston Celtics, Embiid’s participation dropped to 58.6%.

“Yeah, I don’t care about the awards,” he said. “Obviously, they’re nice. One thing that I always say is if you have the chance to go for it, you’ve got to go for it. The same people that are complaining about it, they wish they had a chance to be in that same position. …”

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Embiid said his season is not over yet. He added that the goal is always about winning, and the Sixers did a lot of that when he played. They’re 26-8 with him, 7-17 without.

“So if those stats didn’t bring up a lot of wins, then it wouldn’t matter,” he said. “But that’s why it’s also extremely disappointing, when you start talking about basketball, because I felt like I was on a roll and I wasn’t even close to where I wanted to be, body-wise and basketball-wise.”

Not at his best while playing through injuries, Embiid felt he could deliver a higher level of play.But he was still having fun, playing, racking up victories, and dominating.

“The 70-point game was fun,” Embiid said. “When I came into the league, I thought I was going to try to be a defensive player or something, so I never thought that I could be in a position to score 70 in a basketball game, with the dominance that I was doing.

“It was fun, but it’s not over. The mindset, like I said, is to come back if everything goes well and go from there.”

Embiid’s injury came in the game that followed his record-setting performance, when he tweaked his knee in a loss to the Indiana Pacers on Jan. 25. He was then a late scratch from a Jan. 27 loss to the Denver Nuggets with left knee soreness. Embiid also missed the Jan. 29 loss to the Blazers.

Embiid received criticism for missing the Nuggets game, as media and fans felt he was ducking the head-to-head battle against Denver center Nokia Jokić. One Colorado reporter even questioned Embiid’s heart and character.

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Embiid appeared to succumb to the criticism. He came back against the Warriors, hobbling all over the court for three-and-half quarters before suffering a game-ending injury. He could barely stay upright or move on the court — he also fell several times and made a trip to the locker room after the first quarter.

But there wasn’t any external pressure to play through the injury, according to Embiid.

“Like I said, it wasn’t about those last couple of games,” he said. " It was the same thing that was happening a couple of weeks before, where I just felt like I wasn’t myself, but I was still good enough to go out there because I know that 60 or 70 percent of me can still help the team a lot on both ends of the floor. At the time, we had just lost two, three games in a row and guys were going down.”

Embiid was determined to do whatever it took to help the team.

“Sometimes it helps me,” he said, “sometimes it doesn’t. But yeah, like I said, there’s nothing different I would’ve done.”

De’Anthony Melton (back) will miss Friday’s game against the Hornets. Sixers coach Nick Nurse said the team is unaware of when he’ll return.

Melton returned in last Friday’s victory against the Cleveland Cavaliers after missing 18 games with a spine injury. He also played in Sunday’s loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. However, Melton was on the floor for only 8 minutes, 50 seconds before leaving Tuesday’s loss to the Boston Celtics with back spasms.