Joel Embiid on Tuesday morning underwent a second surgery to address the navicular bone injury in his right foot and received promising news.
Dr. Martin O'Malley, associate attending orthopedic surgeon and one of the five involved with the procedure, said in statement released by the Sixers, "Visual inspection suggested good vascularity of the bone. We replaced the two existing screws and performed a bone graft of the site using bone from his hip.
"We were able to identify that bone's integrity was even better than expected and has been put in a great position to support full recovery."
The procedure, which took place at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City, lasted approximately three hours and there were no complications.
Along with O'Malley of the Hospital for Special Surgery, the four others involved were Dr. Richard Ferkel, director of the sports medicine fellowship program at the Southern California Orthopedic Institute, Dr. Dufetti Fufa, orthopedic and vascular surgeon at the Hospital for Special Surgery, Dr. Jonathan Glashow, Sixers chief medical officer and co-chief of sports medicine orthopedics at New York’s Mount Sinai Medical Center and Dr. Christopher Dodson, Sixers head physician and orthopedic surgeon of the Rothman Institute at Jefferson.
"Everyone involved — our organization, Joel, and his agent Darren Matsubara of Wasserman Media Group — worked diligently to assemble this highly sought after group of professionals," Sixers president and general manager Sam Hinkie said. "The goal was simple: Provide the best possible care for Joel to maximize his opportunity for a long and successful NBA career."
Embiid, who will be sidelined for a second straight season, posted a picture on his Instagram account with a caption saying "everything went really well" and that he's "excited for the future."
The Sixers announced July 11 that Embiid would undergo surgery "in the next 7-10 days and result in Joel missing the upcoming season."
However, the holdup for the procedure was because Embiid was coming to terms of missing a second season and wanted more time to review the matter, a source told CSNPhilly.com's John Gonzalez last Saturday.
Embiid, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2014 draft, missed the 2014-15 season because of the same injury and initial surgery. He hoped to play in this past summer league for the Sixers, but all plans drastically changed following a CT scan that revealed “less healing than anticipated."
Following extensive research and evaluation, the Sixers decided another surgery was best.
"Our team will work with Joel to create the best possible environment for healing so he can achieve his goals," Sixers director of performance research and development Dr. David T. Martin said.
"We will now move into the first phase of the recovery process, which will include a focus on general health and fitness, as well as non-weight bearing movement for the injured limb. We will incorporate a broad network of resources into Joel’s return to play program, one that we believe will give him the best opportunity to make a complete recovery."