PHILADELPHIA — Joel Embiid underwent surgery Monday to repair the torn ligament in his right thumb, the 76ers said.
The injury, which was officially listed as a thumb sprain, occurred during Game 3 of the Sixers’ first-round playoff series against the Toronto Raptors. The MVP runner-up hit the game-winning shot that night and continued to play through the injury with tape around his thumb and wrist.
The Sixers said Embiid also underwent a procedure to repair an injury to his left index finger. The recovery timeline from both procedures is not expected to impact Embiid’s availability for training camp, the team said.
The torn thumb ligament was one of multiple injuries Embiid suffered during the playoffs, putting a damper on a sensational regular season. During the closing minutes of the series-clinching Game 6 against the Raptors, Embiid suffered an orbital fracture and a concussion when Toronto’s Pascal Siakam inadvertently elbowed him in the face on a drive to the basket. Embiid missed the first two games of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Miami Heat, then played wearing a mask for the rest of the series that the Sixers lost in six games.
Before the string of injuries, Embiid led the NBA in scoring during the regular season (30.6 points per game) while also averaging 11.7 rebounds, a career-best 4.2 assists and 1.5 blocks per game. He finished second in the MVP voting to the Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic for the second consecutive season. Embiid also played a career-high 68 regular-season games, evidence of his health before the postseason injuries.
