Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid left Friday's game against the Portland Trail Blazers after suffering a left knee injury. He was ruled out in the fourth quarter as a precautionary measure, according to Tom Moore of Calkins Media.
Embiid appeared to suffer the injury when he landed on the floor after a third-quarter dunk.
Sixers' Joel Embiid limps to locker room after apparent leg injury following dunk pic.twitter.com/b3aPPR5zLl
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) January 21, 2017
He ran to the locker room, but returned to the game a short time later. However, he tweaked it again in the fourth quarter and was ruled out. As a result, the probable NBA Rookie of the Year watched his team pull out an entertaining 93-92 victory.
Sixers coach Brett Brown said afterward that Embiid hyperextended his knee. "There will be more information given as we know it," he said, according to CSN's Jessica Camerato.
Embiid was scheduled to sit out Saturday's game against the Atlanta Hawks as it is a back-to-back, but he told Camerato he doesn't expect to miss Tuesday's game against the Los Angeles Clippers.
“Everything looked good. I feel great," he said.
It's standard operating procedure that the Sixers are careful with Embiid. The 7-footer is still playing on a floor restriction, and Brown doesn't expect that to increase above 28 minutes for the rest of the season. Embiid played 22 Friday.
