Joel Embiid has already wrapped his “third” season in the NBA, with all of 31 appearances to his name. The Philadelphia 76ers shut him down for the rest of this year due to swelling in his knee, bringing a gut-wrenching end to one of the most promising “rookie” campaigns in league history.
Now’s not a time for pessimism, though. Not for Embiid. He wasted little time taking to Twitter for an upbeat farewell, presumably after taking some time of his own to process the situation. Oh, and speaking of the word process, The Process may have given himself a new name in the process (sorry):
Be back soon…. The process has to be postponed for this minor setback #GOD #TheProcess pic.twitter.com/dBq7uW7zkR
— Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) March 3, 2017
Sure, we can totally call Embiid “God” now. Why not? Or maybe something like “God of The Process.” Or perhaps “The Process God.”
Embiid, for the record, also posted the same thing on Instagram, while listing his location as “meniscus.” This is both tragic and hysterical, and further proof how much the Sixers need both him and the timely levity he often brings.
The immediate future is bleak, because losing in excess tends to do that. But Embiid’s meniscus issue isn’t related to the foot injuries that kept him out for his first two seasons. And they’re not considered this incredible blot on career projections. Russell Westbrook has suffered a torn meniscus, and he’s doing just fine now. His situation cannot be applied to every other one, particularly when we’re dealing with a 7-footer, but we needn’t use this latest setback to discredit Embiid’s future. We don’t know what it holds. He could be the next Greg Oden (injury-wise), he could be the next Tim Duncan (with a three-point shot), he could end up somewhere in-between. We don’t know.
What we do know is that, when healthy, Embiid is transcendent. That alone makes him worth the wait. And the work he put in to reach this point—despite whatever resolve he lacked initially—is enough to once more give his trajectory the benefit of the doubt.
