The Philadelphia 76ers had an intern oversee Joel Embiid's rookie season injury recovery process, according to ESPN.
Embiid spent two years waiting to play for the Philadelphia 76ers because he required surgery in his right foot in 2014 and 2015. According to ESPN, Embiid had a hard time getting his frustrations at the time heard by the team.
His rehab following the surgeries, which took longer to recover from than expected, was reportedly overseen by an intern at the franchise.
While recovering from his surgeries, Embiid's younger brother Arthur died in a car crash. The grief only made the recovery process more difficult for Embiid, who contemplated quitting.
As one friend put it to ESPN's Dotun Akintoye, "He was hanging on by a thread." Embiid's relationship with the team "unraveled," and several sources indicated that the team ignored his concerns, so he quit going to rehab.
"I had to start being an asshole," Embiid said. "Whatever they asked me to do, I was like, 'I'm not doing it.'"
He faced repeated fines from the 76ers, and he said he stopped keeping track of the total costs of the fines after they reached $300,00.
"It's worth it," he added. "They're not listening to me, and I'm not going to keep putting my body at risk."
Thankfully, through the help of Australian Institute of Sport's David Martin, hired by former 76ers general manager Sam Hinkie, Embiid was able to get his issues identified and start the road to becoming the player who made MVP.
"If you really went back to the past, and you were there in those moments, you would know him being in the league, and becoming an MVP is a miracle," said a friend of Embiid's. "There are top coaches, there are top league executives who did not believe he would step foot on the court again."
Embiid has since become a seven-time NBA All-Star, was named the NBA MVP in 2023, and was the NBA scoring champion two years in a row. His most recent season, however, was plagued by a knee injury that saw him miss most of his games. He underwent arthroscopic surgery in April.
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