In the weeks leading up to the NBA draft, Joel Embiid — even with his reported back issues — had managed to separate himself from the rest of the high-profile pack of NBA prospects, as his 7-foot frame and footwork wowed scouts around the league. Unfortunately, Embiid won’t be showing off that footwork anytime soon, as his agent, Arn Tellem, confirmed the former Kansas Jayhawk has a stress fracture that will require surgery:
Joel Embiid suffered a stress fracture to the navicular bone in his right foot. He is scheduled to have surgery tomorrow. Joel will be unable to participate in any additional workouts, and will not attend the draft in New York. We will have no further comment until after the surgery.
While this is a perfect setup for a “God Hates Cleveland” joke, it’s caused a very serious discussion over how the Cavaliers should proceed with their #1 pick. They whiffed a year ago with the #1 pick, and some of their other high lottery picks over the last couple years haven’t exactly worked out too well either, so there’s a lot riding on this. They could stick with Embiid and hope he’s not Sam Bowie 3.0, or they could move on and select either Jabari Parker or Andrew Wiggins (or, our favorite choice: “Random, Unexpected Player X”, because, you know, Dan Gilbert). If they pass on Embiid, and he turns out to be a franchise-altering center, then we’ll truly know that God hates Cleveland.
