Former Sixers coach Doc Rivers can empathize with another Joel Embiid health issue: ‘You can’t make it up. You really can’t.’
When he coached here, Rivers navigated a multitude of Embiid health issues, with some of the more bizarre occurring during the playoffs. “And none of it is his fault," Rivers said. "It just happens."
Doc Rivers can empathize with the 76ers staring down yet another postseason potentially without Joel Embiid.
“What the hell, appendicitis?” said Rivers, the former Sixers coach who now leads the Milwaukee Bucks. “You can’t make it up. You really can’t.”
Rivers coached Embiid for three seasons, including when the center won the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award in 2022-23. Rivers also navigated a multitude of Embiid health issues, with some of the more bizarre occurring during the playoffs.
That included when Embiid suffered a torn thumb ligament during a first-round series against the Toronto Raptors in 2022. And an orbital fracture in that same series, which kept Embiid sidelined for the first two games in their second-round loss to the Miami Heat. And a knee injury the next season, which kept Embiid out of two playoff games and hindered him in a seven-game, second-round loss to the Boston Celtics — after which Rivers was fired.
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“I feel bad,” Rivers said before Sunday’s Sixers-Bucks matchup, “because I still believe, if we had had one healthy year … we would have advanced [in the playoffs]. …
“And none of it is [Embiid’s] fault. It just happens. When I was here, we did everything right, we thought, to keep him healthy. And I know Nick [Nurse] has done the same things, because we talk.”
Since Rivers coached Embiid, the big man also has dealt with Bell’s palsy during the Sixers’ 2024 first-round loss to the New York Knicks along with multiple knee surgeries that severely impacted two consecutive seasons. This season, an appendectomy, a strained oblique muscle in his side, a shin stress fracture, and issues with both knees have limited him to 38 games.
Philly was an interesting place for Rivers to end this season with the Bucks, who will miss the playoffs and are dealing with drama surrounding the future of franchise legend Giannis Antetokounmpo. Rivers also is on the heels of being named to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, after winning the 2008 NBA title with the Boston Celtics and 1,194 career games as a coach entering Sunday. That coaching resumé followed a successful playing career, when he was named an All-Star in 1988.
Rivers said he will soon make a decision about his coaching future, but won’t use “the ‘R’ word” (retire), “because you never know. I don’t want to be [Muhammad] Ali and keep coming back.” He said television networks have reached out about him doing commentary during the playoffs, but he has not decided if he will accept.
His first priorities are two “grandparents days” later this month at the schools of his grandchildren.
“I have something on my schedule right now that I need to do,” the 64-year-old Rivers said, “and I’m looking forward to doing it.”
In case this is his final game as a coach, some former colleagues such as Kevin Eastman — who was one of Rivers’ assistants with the Celtics and Clippers — were in attendance for Sunday’s game. Rivers also took advantage of this visit to Philly. He played a round of golf at the Philadelphia Cricket Club. He grabbed meals at Vernick Fish and Middle Child Clubhouse.
“I like the people here,” Rivers said. “I’ve made friends. … If I’m never here, I [would have] never had that.”