Updated: 6:40 p.m.
It's official.
Sixers center Joel Embiid will undergo surgery on his injured left knee. The team made the announcement a couple hours after ESPN's Marc Stein reported that Embiid "very likely" would need surgery.
Embiid, who was with the Sixers on their recent West Coast road trip, visited specialists in California to get opinions on his knee. Embiid's season ended in late January after just 31 games because of a pair of left knee injuries -- a bone bruise and partially torn meniscus.
"It's all on the table. We're trying to do homework," Brett Brown said about Embiid March 10. "There's nothing, to me, news in what I said. It's just reviewing it all. He's got an inner circle around him that's helping guide him, and we're just taking all the information in. Ultimately, he's the one that has to feel most comfortable with it."
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The meniscus tear was discovered in an MRI following Embiid's Jan. 20 knee contusion. The team monitored the meniscus in a second MRI, and there were no signs of change. A third MRI revealed the tear was "more pronounced" than in the first two. There's a thought Embiid further injured the meniscus during a practice in late February.
Surgery has been an option since Embiid was declared out at the beginning of the month. The Sixers wanted to wait for the bone bruise to heal before operating on the meniscus.
Embiid joined the Sixers on their recent West Coast road trip to meet with doctors (see story). He remained in California while the team continued on to learn more about his possibilities.
