Joel Embiid Drops Cryptic Hint on His Return: Is an Unexpected Comeback on the Horizon?

Embiid wants to be playing at the end of the season, in the playoffs, and hopes this patient approach gets him there. He’s also dictating to the team, this is how things are going to go.

“We don’t have a timeline,” Embiid tells me. “Hopefully, sooner rather than later.”Trying to nail down exactly what to expect from Philadelphia’s basketball squad next season is like trying to catch a greased pig at a county fair — tricky, messy, and nobody quite sure how it’s gonna end up. Sure, when everything’s clicking, they look like true championship threats. But here’s the rub: that’s a hefty “if.” Paul George is still working his way back after offseason knee surgery, and Joel Embiid — the former MVP and the heart of the team — is playing the long game with his own knee woes, refusing to rush the return this time around. No set comeback date, just a promise to listen to the body this time, a shift in mindset after last season’s painful shutdown just 19 games in. They’re hopeful for a training camp reunion come September — but until then, it’s a waiting game. The stakes? Sky-high, naturally. Because if Embiid’s not firing on all cylinders, the results won’t be either. This season could be a defining chapter, or a painful footnote — and only time will tell. LEARN MORE“We’re not going to push anything,” he says. “For my whole career, I felt like we never took that approach…As for former MVP Joel Embiid, he is taking a more patient approach with his body this season, following knee issues and an eventual surgery that limited him to 19 games last season. In a fantastic in-depth profile of Embiid by Dotun Akintoye at ESPN, Embiid said he was going to be patient with getting his body right for this season, but that means there is no timeline for his return.Philadelphia is the hardest team to project in next season’s Eastern Conference. If healthy, they are legit title contenders — but “if” is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence. Paul George has had offseason knee surgery.

The 76ers are hopeful that timeline will have him back for training camp in September. That’s also when George will be re-evaluated.Pain in his left knee had sidelined Embiid at the start of last season — coming off winning a gold medal with USA Basketball at the Paris Olympics, where his defense on Nikola Jokic in the Serbian game was critical — but he eventually played 19 games spaced out between November and February. When he did he was his dominant self, averaging 23.8 points and 8.2 rebounds a game, but the pain became too much and he had knee surgery that ended his season. “The only thing I’d say is — this is a business,” Embiid tells me. “It’s all about the results. … If I come back early enough and I’m still not myself, guess what? You’re not winning any games.”