Getty Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers.
The phrases “Joel Embiid” and “foot injury” bring palpable fear to the Philadelphia 76ers. After all, the two-time MVP runner-up missed his first two professional seasons rehabbing from a foot fracture that he suffered right before the 2014 draft.
And though he recovered, the scars from that injury are still fresh, at least for Sixers fans, some eight and a half years later. Fears about Embiid’s foot once again reared their ugly head on January 12 when he appeared to have a problem in the second half of the game against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
“Just tweaked my foot again,” Embiid said after the game, per Justin Grasso of si.com. “It’s fine.”
Embiid, who scored 30 points and had 10 rebounds in the Sixers’ 133-114 loss to the Thunder, said he was unable to offer a definitive timeline on any potential foot injury. “I don’t know. I’ll be fine,” he said.
Embiid missed three straight games in early January as he worked back from foot soreness suffered following the Sixers’ win over the Pelicans on January 2. He also missed a four-game stretch in late November and another three-game stretch from October 31 to November 4.
Sixers Targeting Backup Bigs at Deadline?
Given Embiid’s injury history, the Sixers need to address backup center, a spot that’s plagued the team for parts of the season, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Keith Pompey.
“The Sixers are also without a physical, big center to back up Joel Embiid like they had in the past with Andre Drummond and Dwight Howard,” Pompey wrote on January 13. “Montrezl Harrell and Paul Reed are undersized and their lack of height was exploited on Jan. 6 against Chicago Bulls centers Nik Vučević and Drummond.”
When the Sixers signed Harrell, a former Sixth Man of the Year, at the end of the summer, it was hailed as a shrewd move. And for much of the season so far, Harrell has been head coach Doc Rivers’ top option at backup, having clearly cemented his status over Reed in the Sixers’ pecking order.
Though Reed is a far better defender than Harrell (90th percentile or higher in both steal rate and block rate), he’s a liability on offense and prone to committing fouls (his chilly 8.2% fouls rate is in the first percentile). Harrell, on the other hand, is a slightly above-average scorer with experience.
But given that Harrell will inevitably be hunted on the defensive end in the playoffs and Reed will be a nonfactor on offense, it might behoove Philly to explore the backup bigs market ahead of the trade deadline.
Drummmond, the former Sixer, opened up about his time in Philadelphia, describing his shock at being included in the trade from Philly to Brooklyn last year. More recently, Drummond has been floated as a potential trade target for the Sixers.
“I definitely was blindsided by it. I didn’t think I would be involved in it, but things happen, and here we are,” Drummond said in a January 7 story by USA Today’s SixersWire. “I had a lot of fun playing for Doc, somebody who I’ve known since a boy and have so much respect for him, so to have the chance to play for him was awesome for me.”
Sixers Eyeing Jae Crowder from the Phoenix Suns?
Elsewhere, the Sixers could look to shore up the lackluster play from PJ Tucker.
According to Zach Buckley of Bleacher Report, the Sixers should look trading for an upgrade at Tucker’s position. Here’s one that Buckley laid out in early December in which he viewed the Sixers as winners of the Jae Crowder sweepstakes:
Philadelphia 76ers receive: Jae Crowder
Phoenix Suns receive: Matisse Thybulle, Georges Niang and Jaden Springer
“Starting with the Sixers, Crowder would fit like a tailored suit,” Buckley wrote. “He’d fill the same complementary, defense-first role as P.J. Tucker, only Crowder is five years younger and less hesitant to launch on offense. Four spots of Philly’s closing playoff lineup are obvious, but Crowder could enter the discussion for that final one.”