Sources – Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid has bruised knee and could miss 2 weeks

Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid has a bone bruise on his left knee and could miss two weeks, sources told ESPN.

An overnight MRI did not reveal any structural damage to the knee, which Embiid hyperextended in a win over Washington on Friday night, sources said. Embiid underwent an MRI immediately after returning to Philadelphia on Friday night, sources said.

Embiid’s ACL and meniscus are doing fine, sources say, and the Sixers take great relief that the injury isn’t much worse.

Embiid left Friday night’s game when he hyperextended his left knee after landing with all of his weight on his leg after a dunk in the third quarter.

Embiid was in the middle of the last dominant performance of his MVP-caliber season, scoring 23 points on 8 shots in 11 to go along with 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks in 20 minutes, when he caught a pass from Tobias. Harris and stole for a dunk to give Philadelphia an 80-60 lead with 6 minutes and 20 seconds left in the third quarter.

But as Embiid descended after the dunk, his entire body weight landed on that left leg – causing him to hyperextend, sending him falling onto the court and causing him to twist in pain.

After lying in bed for a few minutes, Embiid finally got up and left on his own – albeit with a fairly pronounced lameness – as he made his way straight back to the visitor’s locker rooms inside Washington’s Capital One Arena. .

Embiid had an equally frightening situation last month when he hyperextended his right knee in an awkward fall against the Portland Trail Blazers after blocking an Enes Kanter layup. In that game, Embiid came back a few minutes later and dominated, scoring 31 points in the first half in a game that Philadelphia ultimately lost.

The Sixers recovered Embiid on Friday night after he and Simmons missed Thursday’s Chicago win over the Bulls – as well as Sunday’s All-Star Game in Atlanta – due to a hairstylist’s contact tracing that the two stars visited before heading to Atlanta.

Tim Bontemps of ESPN contributed to this report.