The Philadelphia 76ers star center Joel Embiid has a ligament tear in his thumb and will require surgery to fix the issue. However, Embiid plans to play through injury and will delay the procedure until after the 2022 NBA Playoffs.
Embiid injured his thumb in Game 3 of Philly’s first-round matchup against the Toronto Raptors. The injury was first characterized as a sprain, but an MRI test showed a ligament tear.
The 76ers’ head coach Doc Rivers confirmed the nature of the injury while speaking with reporters but said that this changes nothing for Embiid.
“Treatment is the same. There literally will be no change,” said Rivers. “It’s just, we knew we thought what it was, and it was, so you just keep moving on.”
Embiid was on the floor for the Game 4 of the Raptors series and scored 21 points in the 110-104 loss. However, he failed to be dominant on the glass, grabbing just eight rebounds. The 28-year-old player himself later admitted that the injured thumb impacted his ability to get boards and affected his passing and free throw routine.
“I don’t know how to explain, but it’s whatever,” he added. “But the bigger story is that we lost the game, we weren’t able to close it out. And we got to do a better job.”
Joel Embiid is one of the finalists for the NBA’s MVP award this season. He led the league in scoring with 30.6 points per game during the regular season while also adding 11.7 rebounds and 4.2 assists on average.
