Joel Embiid, the potential No. 1 pick in the NBA draft, suffered a stress fracture in his right foot and will have surgery on Friday, potentially throwing the entire draft into chaos.
Embiid, a center and Kansas product, was said to have greatly impressed the Cleveland Cavaliers, who have the No. 1 pick, in a workout last week, but team doctors discovered the problem during the course of their medical examination.
As a result, Embiid cancelled a workout with the Milwaukee Bucks, who select second, though they received medical records from Cleveland. He will not be able to participate in any further workouts, meaning the team that ends up drafting him is going to have to do so with a fair degree of uncertainty.
Says Tellem, "Joel will be unable to participate in any additional workouts, and will not attend the draft in New York."
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) June 19, 2014
The fracture is in the navicular bone, which is a small bone on the top of the foot, one bone removed from the base of the tibia.
Embiid had recently expected to be the top pick in the draft, with the Cavs reportedly leaning toward the big man over Jabari Parker and Andrew Wiggins. They will now have to re-evaluate the risk trade-off, and are said to be bringing in Australian point guard Dante Exum for a workout, perhaps with eyes on trading down and selecting Embiid later.
Hard to exaggerate how much this Embiid news is throwing teams at the top of the draft for a loop. Week away, no one knows what to do.
— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) June 19, 2014
Initially, medical concerns about Embiid focused on the stress injury in his lower back that sidelined him late in the college season. With a second flag in his profile and with nobody but Cleveland having had an up-close look at him, where Embiid slides in the draft is now anyone's guess.
One general manager told The Sporting News, "You can't use a Top 5 pick" on him given the injury concerns and the amount of other talent in the draft.
