193 Days After Knicks Ended Philadelphia’s Dream, Joel Embiid’s Return to Hardwood Excites Fans

Six months! The last time Joel Embiid played in an NBA game was in the first round of the playoffs back in May. His opponents? The Knicks. Unfortunately, he might not have very fond memories of that night, as his team suffered an embarrassing elimination, yet again. But The Process will have a chance at redemption tomorrow, as he gets ready to finally make his highly anticipated season debut. And the fans are hyped about the former MVP’s return.

Yes, Joel Embiid is not listed on the injury report for tomorrow’s Knicks encounter! That means the hoopster is highly likely to suit up for the Sixers after months of injury concerns and off-court drama. Well, he had been out for the first six games because of ‘injury management’ on his knee that also limited him to playing only 39 games last season. And for the last three games, the former MVP was serving a suspension for shoving veteran columnist Marcus Hayes, amid a heated altercation.

But all that is in the rear-view mirror now and Joel Embiid can finally focus on turning the season around for his team. In his absence, the Sixers have lost seven of their first nine games and are struggling to stay afloat. Moreover, Tyrese Maxey recently injured his hamstring during the LA Clippers game and is out until further re-evaluation. Paul George, on the other hand, is still trying to find his groove after returning from the knee injury he suffered during the preseason. So, the Sixers need their talisman now more than ever.

Well, he scored a 39-point double-double with 13 rebounds in his last game on May 2. And Philly fans would be hoping for a similar performance tomorrow.

NBA World prepared to re-set Philly hopes amidst Joel Embiid’s debut: “Season starts tomorrow”

Sure enough, fans are excited to see the former MVP back on the hardwood, as an optimistic soul wrote on Reddit, “The season starts tomorrow, lfg.” Yes, that might be the accurate representation of the Sixers because they are a completely different team when Joel Embiid is healthy, available, and firing on all cylinders. Even during the series against the Knicks, the hoopster averaged a daunting 33 points and nearly eleven rebounds- a major reason why the series extended to six games.

Obviously, fans are also hoping for him to play the following night against the Cavs, “Hope he plays the back-to-back. It’s his start of the season. It’s the most rested he’ll be all year. Skip back-to-backs in the middle/end of season, sure.” Yes, Joel Embiid had said before the start of the season that he might NEVER play back-to-back games again. But with his Sixers struggling, well, he might have no other option but to suit up every night alongside his new scoring partner, Paul George.

Sure enough, netizens are excited to see Joel Embiid go head-to-head against New York’s latest recruit Karl-Anthony Towns, as comments like “KAT is on notice” and “Let’s go, KAT won’t be able to shut down Embiid and we will see a completely different offense and defense,” began flooding in. Yes, it will be a tough challenge for both, and this will truly test how healthy Embiid is to start this season. Joel has missed 204 of 637 possible games in the past eight seasons, not counting his first 2 years that were entirely lost.

Meanwhile, the community was also concerned about how much time Embiid would be on the floor on the night of his return. “I wonder what kind of minutes cap they have prepped for him… I’m guessing somewhere around 24ish? Around 6 minutes each quarter.” Well, the former MVP has not hooped in a long time and is unlikely to play his usual minutes in his very first game itself. So, it will be interesting to see how the Sixers manage his minutes in the crucial encounter as they hope to turn their season around.