But that was early August. He’s been presumably resting up, rehabbing, and cutting weight (15-20 lbs if you ask him) in the two-and-a-half months since then. And he’s not ready to go yet? It begs three questions: 1) should he not have played in the Olympics? 2) did he suffer a setback there or since? 3) is this going to be an ongoing issue throughout the season or even (gulp) beyond?

After all, there’s only so much meniscus left in a knee before bone begins to grind against bone, cushion free; something Chris Paul once had to deal with.

Maybe the 76ers are merely being precautious, but Embiid missing the first games of the year doesn’t vibe that way. So was the information fans received dolled out in a way to intentionally leave us in the dark? I doubt it. I think they wanted him to suit up and knew he might. He’s a game-time-decision more than any other player, after all. But this can’t all be going to plan, either.

Fans (guilty) have been screaming for Embiid to load manage preemptively like Kawhi Leonard annually since 2019, and calibrate some of his more dangerous plays (channeling longevity warriors) like Tim Duncan or Nikola Jokic to avoid the most scary falls.

And maybe he’s hellbent on doing all of that this season.

But is it possible this is a lesson he could have learned a little too late?

Embiid almost did not play in this game vs. the Warriors below where he suffered the meniscus tear requiring surgery last winter. There were signs throughout that fateful night he should have taken a seat or been subbed out.

Instead, he got rolled up on by the Warriors’ Jonathan Kuminga, and now we await the ongoing fallout. If Embiid doesn’t feel right heading into the year, the questions about what has already happened in the past will only grow.

Stubbornness on Embiid’s part, an over-awareness of media criticism that he ducks Jokic, that he’s rarely healthy, a team who can’t win without him, and a franchise that has been unwilling to intervene even when it’s painfully clear he needs to sit and rest... The 30-and-10 streaks amid garbage time, or the fighting, clawing for loose balls in Golden State, on a night he nearly did not play, while down 14 points with just 4:34 remaining? Sigh.

Why was Embiid still in? Why did he then push to play Olympic ball? Where is he at now health-wise? Will the reduced weight help alleviate pressure off of knees, that have now sustained multiple surgeries, into his 30’s on a new extension? The less of these questions we have to ask this year, the better off our collective mental healths will all be.

Glass half full? The team has already decided which games they want Joel to play in, and not play in. And when Paul George went down set to miss early time, it made it an easy call to buy Joel a rest day to simply to limit the total number of games he plays in by regular season’s end.

Glass half empty? The season is newly here, and Embiid isn’t feeling well enough to play just yet, without any new injury to point to. This may be the best team Daryl Morey has ever had preseason, when healthy. But the implications here may make that “when healthy” part harder to achieve.