The Sixers have not set a plan for Jahlil Okafor’s surgery to repair a small tear in his right meniscus.
“No surgery has happened,” Brett Brown said Thursday before the Sixers' game against the Wizards. “It’s just that with doctors representing Jahlil and representing the club, just trying to get it done together where they come to a group consensus.”
The Sixers announced last Friday that Okafor would be sidelined for six weeks, effectively ending his rookie season. When asked if Brown believed Okafor’s knee is worse than originally thought, Brown said that is not the case.
“There’s no sort of conspiracy theories going on,” Brown said. “It’s more just trying to get a collaborative effort. I think any time -- and it happened with Joel (Embiid), it’s happened I think even with Nerlens (Noel), I can’t categorically say that -- where you get opinions and expertise in a room, maybe the decision on what path isn’t as easy as you wished it was. Although the procedure, we’ve discussed, it’s evidently a 10-minute procedure. So it’s just been put right now in that situation where they will talk about it more.”
Okafor suffered a right shin contusion Feb. 28 against the Magic. During his treatment, he experienced discomfort in his right knee, which led to a CT scan. The results revealed the tear.
“They’re stepping back, they’re trying to figure out the best practice to continue the operation,” Brown said. “They’re discussing it amongst doctors to figure out what the next plan is. No plan has been determined. That is ongoing.”
In other injury news, Jerami Grant returned and started Thursday after suffering a concussion Friday against the Nets. Robert Covington, who left that game on a stretcher, will not play Thursday as he continues to follow the NBA concussion protocol. Richaun Holmes (Achilles strain) is also out.