Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid underwent emergency surgery for appendicitis.

The Philadelphia 76ers have officially announced that their star center, Joel Embiid, has been diagnosed with appendicitis and will undergo emergency surgery in Houston this Thursday afternoon. The team will update his specific recovery schedule in due course.

This unexpected situation is undoubtedly a heavy blow to the 76ers, who are in the final stages of their regular season. According to the schedule, the 76ers will face the Houston Rockets on Thursday night, and Embiid is confirmed to be absent.

Currently, the 76ers are ranked eighth in the Eastern Conference. Although they are in the play-in tournament bracket, they are only one game behind the Toronto Raptors, who have a direct playoff berth for sixth place in the East. Losing their key player at this crucial juncture in their playoff push presents a severe challenge for the team.

Joel Embiid, 32, has been plagued by injuries this season. Due to knee injury management, he has only played 38 games this season and has never played in a back-to-back game. He just scored 34 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in Monday night's game against the San Antonio Spurs, but the team still suffered a disappointing loss.

This season, Embiid is averaging 26.9 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. However, it's worth noting that since winning the regular season MVP award in the 2022-23 season with an average of 33.1 points per game, he has never played more than 40 regular season games in a single season.

Image source: Internet/NBA official website