Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid has a bruise on a bone in his left knee and will be evaluated again in two weeks, the team announced Saturday.
An MRI scan on Friday night revealed no structural damage to the knee that Embiid injured in a win over the Washington Wizards, sources told ESPN. Embiid underwent MRI immediately after returning to Philadelphia on Friday night, sources added.
The anterior cruciate ligament and Embiid’s meniscus are fine, and there is significant relief within the Sixers that the injury is not much worse.
Embiid left the game on Friday night when he bent his left knee after falling with all his weight on his leg after a rollover in the third quarter.
The pivot was in the middle of the last dominant performance of his ‘MVP’ caliber season, scoring 23 points in 8 of 11 shots to accompany 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks in 20 minutes, when he caught a pass from Tobias Harris .
But when Embiid fell after the nail, all the weight of his body landed on that left leg, which caused him to hurt and writhe in pain.
After remaining on the ground for a few minutes, Embiid finally stood up and walked away on his own, albeit with a rather pronounced lameness, as he returned directly to the guest locker room inside Washington’s Capital One Arena. .
Embiid had an equally frightening situation last month when he injured his right knee in a fall against the Portland Trail Blazers after blocking a shot from Enes Kanter.