76ers: Does Joel Embiid Still Have Injury Concerns?

Joel Embiid didn’t want to make excuses throughout the 2021-2022 NBA season, but he definitely didn’t shy away from revealing he was battling a hand injury throughout the final stretch of the year.

Before the Sixers embarked on their 2022 playoff run, Doc Rivers and the Sixers knew that Embiid would undergo surgery in the offseason to repair his lingering issue. Since the injury wouldn’t get better or worse before surgery, Embiid decided to keep playing through the pain.

In late May of 2022, a Sixers official confirmed that Embiid underwent two separate surgeries. One procedure repaired Embiid’s sprained right thumb. The other took care of an injury to his left index finger. Neither procedure affected Embiid’s training camp availability in September.

Despite recovering from hand surgery and battling plantar fasciitis throughout the offseason, Embiid has been available for all four of Philadelphia’s games to start the 2022-2023 season.

However, Embiid admitted on Monday night following the 76ers’ victory over the Indiana Pacers that he’s still trying to find comfort in playing without thinking about his hand injury from last year.

“You still think about it, especially when it comes to boxing out,” said Embiid. “I’m still not comfortable using my hands and my fingers because I think that’s how I got hurt in the first place — my finger getting caught on somebody."

As Embiid adjusts to playing following the surgery, the big man admits it’s affected his game a bit through his first 138 minutes on the court this year.

“I’ve still got to get comfortable with that… boxing out,” he finished. “I haven’t been using my hands much and trying to use my elbows and my forearms. I’m sure over time, it’s going to get better.”

Embiid hasn’t been the best version of himself through four games this year, but slow starts are not foreign to the big man.

Just last year, Embiid got off to an unexpectedly slow start and ended the year as the NBA’s MVP runner-up. While his slow start is a tough look for a 1-3 Sixers team, Philly is far from worried about their big man’s health at this time as they understand he’s a work in progress.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.