After dislocating his finger in gruesome fashion in Monday's win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, Joel Embiid told reporters his status for Thursday's clash with the Boston Celtics is currently up in the air.
"They're still figuring out what's next," Embiid said after being re-evaluated by doctors following the game. "There's a possibility [I'll miss the Celtics game]. I want to play, it's a big game. Last time we played them we had great success, but then again, whatever they want me to do. Obviously I try to fight it, but they care about me. Whatever they want me to do, I guess."
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It was sort of a bizarre scene after the game, as Embiid discussed the situation openly with reporters in spite of not really knowing what comes next, or what the extent of the damage is. Team officials promised updates later on, only for the big man himself to hold court with reporters and describe his pain after the game.
From the way he described the chain of events leading up to the ugly moment seen around the internet, it could have gone even worse than it did — which is really saying something when you see the still images of his finger from the broadcast. Embiid believed he had severely damaged his finger the first time he hit the locker room, only to have a second event happen a few short minutes of game time later.
"I think it happened a couple of plays earlier, I felt my finger snapping and I thought I fractured it. I went in the locker room, they did some X-rays and they said it was nothing," Embiid said, "I came back...and then it just happened. It was just unfortunate," Embiid told reporters. "It was pretty bad, I was basically playing with one hand."
Playing with his left hand wrapped for the rest of the game, Embiid's effectiveness and ability to impact the game were obviously limited, though he would eventually come alive as a playmaker late to help the Sixers clinch their first win of 2020. Embiid admitted to reporters that offense and rebounding were particularly stiff challenges, with Steven Adams getting to a few extra ones as a result of Embiid not being able to go up and grasp the ball with both hands.
This information raises questions about whether Embiid should have been able to re-enter the game in the first place. He is far from the first player to get back in the mix after suffering a hand injury, but the Sixers went out and got Al Horford in part to protect Embiid from his own worst tendencies, giving the Sixers an insurance plan behind their franchise center. Embiid's description of play first, look for ligament damage later does not do any favors to the people working behind the scenes.
But Embiid told reporters after the game it was as simple as wanting to make sure he was out there for his teammates in the middle of a stretch where they have found wins hard to come by, with the Sixers having lost four straight coming into Monday's game.
It was not lost on the rest of his teammates. Ben Simmons admitted to almost throwing up when he saw the finger dangling from Embiid's hands, and Brett Brown praised Embiid as a leader for helping them get one over the line.
"For him to go back in and come back out and play, I was shocked I was able to come back out and play," Brown said. "That is a tough return to the court, that is a competitive statement. I appreciate him, I respect that, we needed to play well here at home, we haven't been on the right side of the win-loss column lately."
"It looked crazy," Josh Richardson added. "I commend him for coming back, it's not easy coming back from what happened. He said it was bothering him, but it takes a lot of toughness to be able to come back and play through that."
The Sixers will practice on Tuesday afternoon, where we will almost assuredly receive some sort of update on the status of Embiid's finger and his availability in the near-term. Stay tuned.
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