Everybody already believed the Sixers were willing to draft another center despite already having Embiid and Noel. They have been forthright and consistent in their belief that you take the best player available.
They did not need injury news about Embiid to convince anyone they would take Okafor.
Maybe they DO want Okafor. Maybe this is all just a game of chicken. Until we see something conclusive on Embiid's adjusted timetable, it's just too soon to make any judgements on this situation. The draft is a little over a week away. The NBA season doesn't start for another 5 months.
Summer league starts in a few weeks. Embiid was expected to play in it. He's been training aggressively for months and hasn't experienced any pain. I'm reading the cryptic reports to mean that the team is going to be overly cautious (as they did with Noel) and
MAYBE hold out Embiid during the summer league which starts in a few short weeks. WE have yet to even see conclusive proof that Embiid is skipping Summer league. We'll see.
People reading "set back" are assuming this is a Greg Oden situation where Embiid tore something. There is nothing in these reports suggesting that. You're all making a bigger leap than the 76ers conspiracy theorists.
During his visit with Dr. Richard Ferkel, a standard CT scan on Joel's right foot revealed less healing than anticipated at this point. Our priority remains providing Joel with every opportunity to ensure he has a long and successful NBA career, and as such, these findings cause us to pause and reassess his current activities.
If they were disappointed with the CT results, it likely means they saw something they saw the last time they checked and hoped would have been fixed by now. If you read about his specific injury, apparently you feel better before you are actually better. You'll feel healed, but that doesn't mean the CT results will show 100% healing. They might be worried that summer league could be "too soon" and Embiid might be at risk of reinjuring it. So Embiid, who all reports indicate could in-fact play in Summer league in a few weeks, is possibly going to be forced to sit it out and wait a little longer.