04/09/26 06:20:00
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04/09 18:19 CDT Joel Embiid has surgery for appendicitis, leaving former MVP's
status for postseason in doubt
Joel Embiid has surgery for appendicitis, leaving former MVP's status for
postseason in doubt
By KRISTIE RIEKEN
AP Sports Writer
HOUSTON (AP) --- Joel Embiid has been diagnosed with appendicitis and
Philadelphia coach Nick Nurse said the star big man was undergoing surgery
Thursday.
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.
"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."
The 76ers entered Thursday in eighth place in the Eastern Conference and on
track for a spot in the play-in tournament, though they were only one game
behind sixth-place Toronto.
Embiid has been limited to 38 games this season, sitting out primarily to
manage injuries to his knees.
"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."
Embiid was held out against the Detroit Pistons on Saturday. He has not played
in both games of a back-to-back all season.
After missing Saturday's game, Embiid had 34 points and 12 rebounds in
Philadelphia's 115-102 loss at San Antonio on Monday night.
Embiid, 32, is averaging 26.9 points and 7.7 rebounds this season after playing
in only 19 games in 2024-25. He hasn't appeared in as many as 40 games in a
regular season since 2022-23, when he averaged a career-best 33.1 points and
earned MVP honors.
Embiid expressed his frustrations with Daryl Morey, the 76ers' president of
basketball operations, on Friday night for not allowing him to play at
Washington last week.
"I was (ticked) 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."
Nurse said it's on him to keep the team upbeat with the postseason approaching.
"We've got to pick ourselves up," he said. "I'm the leader of the team, I've
got to pick the guys up and they'll understand the situation and we've got to
be professional and we've got to go try to figure it out the best we can."
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