76ers' Joel Embiid Says He Wasn't Active for Months Before Season Due to Foot Injury

After Philadelphia 76ers head coach Doc Rivers told reporters earlier this week that Joel Embiid dealt with a foot injury during the offseason that impacted his condition, the five-time All-Star addressed the situation on Saturday.

Speaking to reporters following the Sixers' 114-105 loss to the San Antonio Spurs, Embiid said he "hadn't done anything in like two months" coming into training camp due to plantar fasciitis.

"Still trying to work my way back, and hopefully, everything goes back to normal," he added.

In the wake of Philadelphia's loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday, Rivers said Embiid got taken off of his conditioning program because of the injury.

Any injury to Embiid is going to be a cause for concern, especially one involving his foot. He missed the first two seasons of his career due to a broken navicular bone in his foot that took longer than expected to heal properly.

The fact that Embiid has been able to play in each of the first three games is a good sign about where the foot is at in the recovery process.

Embiid did struggle in Philadelphia's first two games of the season. He had 26 points and 15 rebounds in the opener against the Boston Celtics, but he also finished with a game-high six turnovers.

Things got even worse for Embiid against the Bucks. The 28-year-old had another double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds, but his offensive output came on 6-of-21 shooting from the field.

The 15 points marked Embiid's fewest in a single game since Dec. 1, 2021. He had a strong rebound performance on Saturday with 40 points on 14-of-25 shooting and 13 rebounds in 36 minutes.

While the Sixers can feel better about Embiid after his showing against the Spurs, they have a lot of problems that need to be figured out quickly. They are off to an 0-3 start for the first time since the 2017-18 season.

If there's a reason to be optimistic going forward, Philadelphia finished that 2017-18 campaign as the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference with a 52-30 record.

Whatever the 76ers are going to do during the 2022-23 campaign, they need Embiid to play at the MVP level he's been at over the previous two years. Saturday was the first time he showed that form this season.