Sixers center Joel Embiid undergoes arthroscopic surgery on meniscus tear

The Sixers, in a Friday evening news-dump while the team was in the middle of playing a game, announced that Joel Embiid had surgery on the meniscus tear in his left knee today in Los Angeles. Here is what the surgeon, Dr. Neal S. ElAttrache, had to say about the procedure:

The overall status of Joel’s lateral meniscus and his cartilage is very good. Today's procedure focused on removing a small portion of the meniscus that was responsible for his symptoms. The recovery program that has been established targets Joel transitioning back to full weight-bearing in approximately two weeks, at which point a conservative approach to his rehabilitation will be introduced.

I’m not going to speculate on the medical ramifications of this, but saying that this was “removing” a “small portion” of his meniscus as opposed to repairing it or some other term seems important. I’m not saying whether that’s a positive or negative in Embiid’s case, but it seems to be of some significance.

Dr. David T. Martin, the Sixers Director Of Performance Research & Development, said that Embiid “will resume basketball activities this summer,” so that at least seems to be encouraging, but Sixers fans should remain cautious whenever it comes to expecting something health-wise during this era of Sixers basketball.