LeBron James is going to bat for Joel Embiid in the wake of news that the reigning MVP has a torn meniscus. Prior to the news of Embiid’s meniscus tear, there was much talk about whether or not he would find himself ineligible to earn consideration for regular-season awards. Thanks to the NBA’s 65-game limit, players such as Embiid and Tyrese Haliburton were put in a difficult position.
Now, with Embiid’s meniscus tear, the former MVP will be forced to miss either several weeks or several months depending on his road to recovery. If he were to undergo a meniscus removal, he could potentially return far quicker than if he were to undergo surgery to have it repaired.
On the heels of Embiid facing considerable criticism, LeBron James has now gone to bat for the 76ers star, taking to social media to voice his opinion. The way he sees things, those who spoke poorly about Embiid missing time before learning about his injury, owe him an apology.
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On social media, LeBron James wrote:
“Where are all the media outlets, tv media personalities, hot takes that talked so much about Joel Embiid about missing those games when he knew what he was dealing with.
“Now he’s out with an injury because of it. Not 1 person has went back on tv or their dumbass podcast and apologized to that MAN!! No accountability.”
Looking at the criticism Joel Embiid faced prior to LeBron James’ defense of reigning MVP
This season, of a potential 47 games, Joel Embiid has played in just 34, missing a recent key matchup against the Denver Nuggets that earned him criticism. While nobody knew quite how severe of a situation the MVP was dealing with at the time, there was considerable criticism.
Many accused him of ducking Nikola Jokic during the 76ers’ recent meeting with the Denver Nuggets, while others questioned his durability. NBA vet Kendrick Perkins was one of the most vocal figures, and likely one of those LeBron James took aim at with his tweet.
Perkins said at the time:
“Embiid hasn’t played in Denver since 2019!!! Come on now big fella @JoelEmbiid stop ducking that smoke and stand on Business today! Carry the hell on…”
At the time, Embiid responded, indicating that he had seen the criticism, however, as we now know, there was little that could have been done given the injury to come. Speaking to media members in the locker room late last month, he responded to the criticism:
“I saw but you know I mean you can’t control if I get the flu or whatever, you can’t control that, can’t control this, the knee, it’s going to swell up, it just happened that it was against New Orleans and Boston you know you got the flu obviously you can’t go, a lot of guys on the team had it.”
As he went on to indicate, the goal is to be ready for the playoffs. Of course, with the latest news of his meniscus injury, the team will now have to remain afloat in a competitive Eastern Conference between now and then. Whether or not Embiid gets the apology LeBron James wants, only time will tell.
