Jahlil Okafor's arthroscopic knee surgery is delayed

Sixers rookie Jahlil Okafor was scheduled to undergo arthroscopic surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee on Thursday in Pensacola, Fla., but it was delayed. The procedure originally was scheduled for Wednesday.

This begs the question: Is the power forward's knee worse than originally thought?

"No," coach Brett Brown said Thursday. "There's no sort of conspiracy theories going on. It's more just trying to get a collaborative effort. It happened with Joel [Embiid] and, I think, with Nerlens [Noel].

The injury ultimately will cost Okafor, who hasn't played since Feb. 28, the final 23 games of the season.  A CAT scan on March 8 revealed the tear.

The 20-year-old missed two preseason games in October and two games in December because of soreness in the same knee.

Okafor, who played in 53 games, is the team's leading scoring at 17.5 points per game. He became the first Sixers rookie since Allen Iverson in the 1996-97 season to lead the team in scoring over a minimum of 50 games. He also averaged 7.0 rebounds, 1.2 assists, and 1.2 blocks, shooting 50.8 percent from the field.

Sixers rookie point guard T.J. McConnell headed into Thursday's game with 404 points, 300 assists, and 209 rebounds. He is the only first-year player with at least 400 points, 300 assists, and 200 rebounds.