HOUSTON (AP) — Joel Embiid was diagnosed with appendicitis and will undergo surgery on Thursday in Houston, the Philadelphia 76ers announced.
The 76ers are scheduled to play at the Rockets on Thursday night.
The team said further updates will be provided as appropriate.
The 76ers are currently eighth in the Eastern Conference and on track for a spot in the play-in tournament, though they are only one game behind sixth-place Toronto.
Embiid has been limited
to 38 games this season, sidelined primarily by injury management in his knees.
He was held out against the Detroit Pistons on Saturday with “right oblique; injury management; (and) illness.” He has not played in both games of a back-to-back all season.
After missing Saturday's game, Embiid had 34 points and 12 rebounds in Philadelphia's 115-102 loss at San Antonio on Monday night.
Embiid, 32, is averaging 26.9 points and 7.7 rebounds this season after playing in only 19 games in the 2024-25 season. He hasn't appeared in as many as 40 games in a regular season since 2022-23 when he was named MVP after averaging a career-high 33.1 points.
Embiid expressed his frustrations with Daryl Morey, the 76ers president of basketball operations, on Friday night for not allowing him to play in Washington last week.
“I was pissed off. I wanted to play basketball,” Embiid said. “I wasn’t allowed to play basketball, so I think this is more of a question of Daryl Morey or whoever makes the decisions.”
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