Philadelphia 76ers star player Joel Embiid had knee surgery on Tuesday to get the meniscus in left knee fixed, leaving him absent from the upcoming matches for the next four weeks, Yahoo Sports reported.
The Sixers released a statement saying, "Joel Embiid had a successful procedure today to address an injury to the lateral meniscus in his left knee. He will be re-evaluated in approximately four weeks."
Embiid's recovery is expected to take one to two months. If his recovery after the surgery goes well, he could be able to return to basketball by March and participate in at least 10 games before the playoffs start.
Embiid hurt his knee on January 31 during a 119-107 defeat to the Golden State Warriors, while he was having the finest season of his career and on his way to winning the second consecutive Most Valuable Player (MVP) award.
He reportedly had knee discomfort for the majority of the season before receiving a diagnosis of a misplaced flap in the meniscus of his left knee.
Even though he has played a record-breaking amount of games, this injury will keep him from winning MVP because there is a 65-game requirement.
For Embiid and the Sixers, knee issues are nothing new. He has had them throughout his whole career in Philadelphia.
The club has 33 regular-season games left until they make the playoffs, and they'll likely play more than half of them without their best player.
Sadly, there isn't much breathing room for the Sixers. With a 30-19 record, they are fifth in the Eastern Conference.
The Sixers still have time to add someone to partially make up for Embiid's departure before the trade deadline on Thursday.
However, does General Manager Daryl Morey want to do that? All we can do is wait and see.