Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid missed his fifth straight game Sunday night, this time citing shin soreness and load management as the reason. Embiid has now missed 26 games this season, but Embiid's star trainer, Drew Hanlen, doesn’t seem too worried about it.
In a recent appearance on The Kevin O’Connor Show, shot doctor Drew Hanlen talked about multiple topics relating to Embiid. These ranged from their relationship to his path to the NBA to, finally, how Embiid is approaching injuries this season.
“I think that he [Joel Embiid] is bought into something that this year he’s never done in the past. In the past, if he [Joel Embiid] was 50%, he’s still playing. This year, he’s taken more of [an] approach of if I’m not healthy, I’m not playing.
“It’s one of those things where people, like people, panic. They’re like, Joel Embiid’s out, and they’re like texting me, and he’s like ‘Oh no, is he seriously hurt?’, and I’m like no, he’s just not 100%, so he’s not gonna push his body to a place where he has in the past.”
Hanlen has been Embiid’s trainer since before the center entered the NBA and has developed an extremely close relationship with him over the years. He is regularly one of Embiid’s loudest supporters across social media. It is necessary to recognize that Hanlen has a bias when discussing Embiid. However, it is also crucial to point out that Hanlen’s experience with Embiid gives him one-of-a-kind insight.
Over the offseason, ESPN's Dotun Akintoye published an article that offered perhaps the closest look into Embiid's psyche to date. In the article, Embiid talked about how the pressure of letting down the fans has forced him to play through injury previously. Now, it seems like Embiid may finally be advocating for himself in a way he hasn’t felt comfortable doing before.
Hanlen also highlighted that Embiid was unable to have any skill workouts for more than a year while trying to recover his body from injuries. He stated that sometime around Dec. 10, he and Embiid finally had a skills workout to help Joel get back in the groove, highlighting Embiid’s early struggles this season. Since then, Embiid has averaged 30.0 points and 8.3 rebounds a night for the Sixers.
Embiid has always been a player defined just as much by his injury history as his dominance. He missed his first two seasons with a foot injury. Then, after dominating during his official rookie season, Embiid was once again shut down with a torn meniscus.
Even in some of Joel’s best seasons, including his MVP year, he only barely surpassed the 65-game threshold on the year. In fact, he’s only surpassed that threshold twice in his career, dealing with torn meniscuses, an orbital fracture, dislocated fingers and a litany of other injuries.
While Embiid continues to miss games, it seems that these absences are more about Embiid finding a way to stay healthy through the season. The former MVP clearly values winning above all else at this point and wants to finally have a healthy playoff run. Only time will tell if this season will help fulfill that dream.
Currently, the Sixers are in a three-game losing streak, most recently blowing yet another lead this season, falling to the New Orleans Pelicans last night, 126-111. While having Embiid healthy for the playoffs is absolutely necessary, the Sixers may need him just to make the playoffs. The Sixers are currently the sixth seed in the East with the Miami Heat hot on their trail as both teams are 12.5 games back currently.
