"Shut him down for the season": Kendrick Perkins gives bold Joel Embiid advice to Sixers
ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins wants the Philadelphia 76ers to be cautious about Joel Embiid's latest injury, boldly advising the team to shut down the reigning league MVP for the rest of the season for him to fully heal.
While already dealing with some health issues of late, things went from bad to worse for the Sixers' superstar big man when he suffered another apparent knee injury after Jonathan Kuminga landed on his left leg in their, 119-107 loss to Golden State Warriors on Tuesday.
Joel Embiid left the game and did not return.
Given his history with knee injuries, one-time NBA champion Perkins deemed it fit for the Sixers to shut down the 29-year-old former No. 1 pick to have him fully heal and not risk prolonging his injury.
He shared on ESPN’s "NBA Countdown":
"If I'm the 76ers, I'd shut Joel Embiid down for this season. This is gonna continue to get worse. Like he’s not going to be pain-free. We saw what happened to him in the postseason [when he got injured]. You want him to have an opportunity to heal up… So that you can have him for the long haul.”
Joel Embiid’s latest injury is still being evaluated, but if the Sixers do follow Perkins' advice of shutting down the seven-time All-Star, their campaign would surely drop immensely, considering how their big man is having a magnificent season.
In the 34 games he has played so far, he is averaging career-highs of 35.3 points and 5.7 assists, to go along with 11.3 rebounds, 1.8 blocks and 1.1 steals, leading Philadelphia to a 29-17 record, fifth in the Eastern Conference.
Sixers coach hopes for the best as far as Joel Embiid's injury is concerned
Joel Embiid is rendered questionable for their upcoming games after suffering another apparent knee injury against Golden State on Tuesday. And head coach Nick Nurse is hoping for the best for his superstar big man.
Nurse expressed his concern about what happened to Embiid as it is seemingly a new injury, apart from what he had already been dealing with of late.
The coach said post-game:
"He obviously got landed on. So they're going to do an MRI tonight or tomorrow. It's kind of unrelated to what's been bothering him. So we'll just wait on that."
He went on to say that Embiid felt good playing against the Warriors despite the health issues he had and it was just unfortunate that he got hurt again:
"Obviously medical cleared him. Joel obviously is a big part of that, he said he was feeling good. He said he's more a little rusty, and he hadn't been on the court for five days, but he said he felt good."
Embiid has been ruled out for their game against the Utah Jazz on Thursday.