Breaking: Joel Embiid Will Require Surgery On Thumb

Joel Embiid’s thumb has been the talk of the NBA world over the weekend.

It was reported earlier in the week that Embiid was playing through some ligament damage on his right thumb. But while the Sixers’ medical staff is planning on monitoring the injury, the plan for now is to have the star big man play throughout the playoffs with the nagging injury.

Today, NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting that the thumb injury is so bad for Joel Embiid, that he’ll likely require surgery during the offseason.

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Joel Embiid will require surgery to address the ligament tear in his right thumb, but that procedure will wait until after the Sixers' season, sources tell ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 24, 2022

After the loss to the Raptors on Saturday, Joel Embiid said he’s planning on playing through the pain.

“I want to play, so obviously got to listen to what they have to say,” Embiid said to ESPN. “So, I would imagine that I keep playing and probably do something after the season.”

Joel Embiid would go on to say that the thumb doesn’t necessarily hurt when he’s shooting, but rather when he’s passing or trying to get a rebound.

“I would say it was more, you know, when it comes to rebounding, at the free throw and also passing,” Embiid said. “I don’t know how to explain but it’s whatever. 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.”

It would have been nice for Embiid to have some time to rest his thumb. But after the Raptors staved off elimination on Saturday, he’ll have to play again when the series moves to Philadelphia on Monday night.

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