Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid was a breath of fresh air in the NBA this season. He is great at social media, loves to poke fun at the Sixers tanking by owning the nickname ‘The Process’ and he was really, really good at basketball.

He may have only played 31 games this year, but his presence made a huge impact. He was averaging 20.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game before a partially-torn meniscus sidelined him for the remainder of the year.

Embiid had to sit out two seasons after undergoing two major surgeries on his right ankle. So the Philly fanbase is worried about Embiid possibly going under the knife again.

It’s not 100% that he will get surgery, because the Sixers are going out of their way to avoid it. They actually sent Embiid to an American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons annual meeting to see if he had other options. Yes, they sent him to the place where every single great ortho doctor is at like he’s patient zero.

I get why they are being cautious with Embiid. He dealt with a back issue during the NBA Combine, an ankle injury immediately after that and now a meniscus tear (of some magnitude). He has had some Greg Oden-esque bad luck and is starting to resemble Mr. Glass, Samuel L. Jackson’s character in the movie ‘Unbreakable’.

I hope Embiid will be fine because he was a beast on the court and seems like a fun dude off of it.

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About the Author…

Bobby Roberts (otherwise known as Sweetbob) is the creator of ‘America’s White Boy’ and contributor at Project Shanks. His writing has been featured on ESPN’s ‘SportsNation’, Sports Illustrated’s Hot Clicks, Guyspeed, and various other sites. You can follow him on Twitter at @Sweetbob.