Joel Embiid tries to believe in the good that comes from asking for help. Embiid’s career has produced an MVP — and so many more DNPs — with a biography littered with the kind of devastating injuries that can heal with time.
Ask even the most casual 76ers fan, and they can rattle off a CliffsNotes version of Embiid’s injury timeline: the broken bones in his feet, the grotesquely dislocated finger that made him look like a used bendy straw, the torn meniscus in his right knee, the torn ligament in a thumb, a battle with Bell’s palsy, and even his latest ailment — a ruptured sinus that forced him to ask a horde of media to turn off the camera lights to switch because of his sensitivity to the brightness radiating in his face.
Embiid performed Friday night wearing a carbon-graphite mask straight from the props department of “Phantom of the Opera.” He needed the protection save his face from another errant elbow, another sudden blow, that could land him in the kind of extended absence that has defined his successful career.
With the 7-footer possessing a wingspan that could stretch a pair of Liberty Bells, and his knack for knocking down spot-up 3s, Embiid’s presence in the lineup is the only thing separating the Philadelphia 76ers from a play- off team and title contender to one who drowns. in the NBA standings.
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He feels the burden. He understands the difficulties.
Selected by the 76ers with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2014 NBA draft, Embiid carries the weight of expectations from Philly – and beyond – and the injuries that sidelined the 2023 MVP and left him having been denied a real opportunity to be announced. because one of the NBA’s greats got him to admit that the cracks they formed in his mental health were something he could no longer ignore.
So the Cameroon native, who once never believed in seeking help from others, had decided over time – like top athletes Simone Biles, Naomi Osaka and retired swimmer Michael Phelps – to ditch the once-taboo stigma of therapy. to break through and go all-in in the field of therapy. process to guide him through turbulent times in his professional career.
“It’s kind of hard when you get to those moments where it’s hard not to feel bad about yourself, especially when you know who you are and what you can achieve, but it’s not the way it is,” Embiid said. “A lesson I’ve learned is to try to stop feeling bad about myself and just live day to day. Enjoy good people around me, positivity and don’t focus on the negativity.”
Embiid has spoken openly at times over the past year about feeling depressed from time to time on the shelf — he was sidelined for two full NBA seasons, and had parts of so many others recovering, rehabbing and even resting — and this season was no different.
Embiid had his homegrown sidekick in All-Star Tyrese Maxey and nine-time All-Star Paul George along for the ride to form a Big Three of sorts expected to challenge Boston, New York and Cleveland for Eastern supremacy Conference.
Nam Y. Huh / AP
With all three hit by injuries, they played in all two matches from start to finish this season.
Embiid battled through headaches and dizziness to drop 34 points and lead the 76ers past Charlotte Friday night in a win that completed a 4-0 season win over the Hornets and brought the 76ers’ record to a paltry 9-16 overall.
“He makes the game so easy,” George said. “A lot of things were just plays that we weren’t in sync with. We’ll see that when we’re on the field more.”
The question is being asked again around the NBA: What could the 76ers have accomplished if Embiid had been healthy enough to always play 80 games per season?
As is the norm with Embiid, the two-time scoring champion will sit out the second game of a back-to-back Saturday in Cleveland.
“As long as it gets better every day,” Embiid said, “that’s good.”
It’s a modest goal, as Embiid tries to make the days — using his word “manageable” — until they might seem close to 100% in time for the playoffs.
His candor in admitting he needed therapy belies the public persona of a 30-year-old who delights in playing the role of troll to assassinate rivals both in the locker room and on social media. Embiid — who signed a $193 million contract extension prior to the season — has leaned on his wife and young son to get him through the tough days.
Matt Slocum/AP
Embiid is a big brother to twenty-somethings on the team, like Maxey and… newcomer Jared McCain and he finally has a recognizable peer this season in Olympic gold medalist George, who had his own career cut short by catastrophic injuries.
“You can never get enough support,” Embiid said. “If I’m honest, when you have the support of your family, people close to you, teammates, guys like (George), that’s why you want to keep doing it and you want to keep figuring it out. is what you play for. The people who care about you, people who support you, people who push you. I find it hard to let people down, what I’m working on kind of hard to feel bad about yourself to please people. You just have to keep going.”
Keep going.
It’s all Embiid can do now to find happiness on the court and in his personal life — and find some peace along the way through treatment.
He can at least improve his state of mind, even if it takes longer to heal the condition of his body.
“It’s a work in progress. We’ll see if it works,” Embiid said. “You get to a point where nothing works. I’m always willing to try anything and see if it works.”
