Joel Embiid Gets Honest About Knee Injury After Playoff Elimination

Despite being eliminated from the playoffs by the New York Knicks in just four games and missing a significant portion of the season, Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid remains confident about his health moving forward.

“I’m as confident as I’ve ever been,” he said following a 144-114 rout by the Knicks in Game 4. “I think, obviously, [my knee] was the biggest concern, and I’m not thinking about it; and as long as we keep doing what we’ve been doing, I won’t have to think about it anymore.

“I’m looking at next year, obviously being more available. The personal goals, it doesn’t matter. I know that if I’m available and I play as much as possible, everything else is going to follow.”

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Health has been a major question mark in Embiid’s frustrating NBA career. The player who looks like an MVP candidate at time has only played 490 games in 10 seasons – averaging just 49 games per season in a league with an 82-game season. Those figures don’t even take into account the first two seasons he missed.

Embiid recent absences have little to do with him being injury prone as he missed two weeks following an emergency appendectomy a month ago. However, he missed Game 2 of the series against New York with right hip an ankle injuries.

Now he and the 76ers are headed the offseason earlier than they’d like – again.

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This story was originally published May 11, 2026 at 10:53 AM.