Joel Embiid finally took the court for the first time this season, playing 26 minutes in the Philadelphia 76ers' 111-99 loss to the New York Knicks on Tuesday night. The MVP big man was far from his best, hitting only two of his 11 shots from the field to finish with 13 points, five assists, and three rebounds. But that's to be expected given Embiid missed the first 11 games of the season due to a combination of left knee injury management and a suspension.
In other words, a slow ramp-up was always expected for the superstar. Especially in light of comments he made around training camp, when Embiid bluntly told reporters he did not expect to play two back-to-back games for the rest of his career. However, it seems the seven-footer may have been hasty with that declaration.
