Why Zion’s Knees Will Never Be Fixed

[Simmons25]

Poor Embiid is ****...

i'm out of red so I apologize.

Are these comparisons to Embiid supposed to be a positive for Zion?

Dude missed 2.5 seasons, barely cracked 2000 minutes for the first time this year, and has only played all games in 1 of 4 playoff series he has played in.

Add some more weight and a hyper athletic style of play and any comparisons to Embiid should be a huge concern for Zion

LOL I was going to post a photo of Embiid until I saw this. Embiid has exactly the same issues with "Knock knees" which is one of the reasons he has so many issues with his knees and feet.

At least Embiids weight is at least spread over a taller body... Zion is 6" shorter and almost identical weight. I can never see Zion playing 70+ games ever in his career... if he has a career.

[old skool]

I think the issue is unnecessarily confused by drawing red lines on a photo. I took a life sized enlargement of the photo and recreated a 3-D model of Zion with Legos. Every time I recreated Zion's jumping action by lifting the Lego model 40-inches off the floor and letting it crash to the floor, the Legos separated precisely where the meniscus is. I solved the problem by super-gluing the Legos at the meniscus area, and now I can crash my Zion model to the floor with wild abandon. I think this solution will become standard medical practice very soon and will become commonly known as Zion Williamson Surgery, in honor of Tommy John.

[floppymoose]

Same threads about Curry’s ankles back in the day

[nikster]

Same threads about Curry’s ankles back in the day

Cirrys ankles aren't handling the same forces

[Sign5]

Poor Embiid is ****...

i'm out of red so I apologize.

Are these comparisons to Embiid supposed to be a positive for Zion?

Dude missed 2.5 seasons, barely cracked 2000 minutes for the first time this year, and has only played all games in 1 of 4 playoff series he has played in.

Add some more weight and a hyper athletic style of play and any comparisons to Embiid should be a huge concern for Zion

LOL I was going to post a photo of Embiid until I saw this. Embiid has exactly the same issues with "Knock knees" which is one of the reasons he has so many issues with his knees and feet.

At least Embiids weight is at least spread over a taller body... Zion is 6" shorter and almost identical weight. I can never see Zion playing 70+ games ever in his career... if he has a career.

Thats not how it works. Embiid having a taller body (bigger bones) puts him at more risk. Zion just needs to lose 20 pounds and he'd be in better shape long term due to his smaller frame.

[KingDavid]

Nobody has posted the clips of how Zion walks? That is even more frightening than his knees.

Read on Twitter

That's the issue. imbalance that makes his 290 pound body fall on one knee.

During the swing phase (of his walk) he hyperextends his knee because of lack of hip mobility during walking phase.The tightness either stems from tight glutes/ITB and/or tight adductors. This could all stem from a hip pathology like a labrum tear/instability or general imbalance. Either way, it's not about the weight really, it's the imbalance and whatever is happening there. What he does need to do is to lose weight until he fixes that to prevent further injury.

This is the first thing I've read that has made any sense to Zion and his weight. Very surprised this wasn't the first thing tackled by the Pelicans staff.

Would be a little scary to see what he'd look like playing ball at around 40lbs lighter.

[DwayneSchintzus]

Does anyone else remember when LeBron was a rookie and someone said because his feet point out instead of in, that he would have constant knee problems??

15 years later....

[leolozon]

As a Sixers fan I went through this stuff with Embiid and it was very frustrating.

Embiid was a punchline for damaged goods by uninformed fans. We knew that, despite having a very dangerous injury, that he was not destined to medical failure.

It was touch and go at times, but he pulled through.

Zion has a knee injury right now, but that doesn’t mean anything about his future.

I hope and expect that it all works out for him because he is a great kid and is great for basketball.


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Did he completely “pulled through”? He’s played 75% seasons in the past two years. He missed games in both playoffs and was only played 30mpg last year. He did play 34mpg in the Toronto series, but that’s still less than other superstars, and he wasn’t at his best.

It’s certainly better than what some people expected, but it’s far from perfect and it’s still concerning considering health doesn’t get better with age (on average).

Zion is also playing a more “reckless” style. I think it’s too premature to think that this will be what his career will be like, but it is something to think about.

[swyftdahoe]

Nobody has posted the clips of how Zion walks? That is even more frightening than his knees.

Read on Twitter

That's the issue. imbalance that makes his 290 pound body fall on one knee.

During the swing phase (of his walk) he hyperextends his knee because of lack of hip mobility during walking phase.The tightness either stems from tight glutes/ITB and/or tight adductors. This could all stem from a hip pathology like a labrum tear/instability or general imbalance. Either way, it's not about the weight really, it's the imbalance and whatever is happening there. What he does need to do is to lose weight until he fixes that to prevent further injury.

This is the first thing I've read that has made any sense to Zion and his weight. Very surprised this wasn't the first thing tackled by the Pelicans staff.

Would be a little scary to see what he'd look like playing ball at around 40lbs lighter.

I'm quoting this because this is the one sub-thread that needs further expounding upon!!

[JonFromVA]

As a Sixers fan I went through this stuff with Embiid and it was very frustrating.

Embiid was a punchline for damaged goods by uninformed fans. We knew that, despite having a very dangerous injury, that he was not destined to medical failure.

It was touch and go at times, but he pulled through.

Zion has a knee injury right now, but that doesn’t mean anything about his future.

I hope and expect that it all works out for him because he is a great kid and is great for basketball.

The fear with Embiid was that he started playing the game so late that his bones never developed to support the movements he needed to make. Surgery was going to eventually fix his feet, but that doesn't mean other parts of his body weren't going to break down as well. This year it was knee tendonitis, but at least he was able to play in the playoffs. If he's smart he'll retire while he can still do simple things like walk without pain.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

What's the curse again? Oden, Rose and Griffin were all drafted back to back to back and all had injury problems. Bennett and Wiggins were drafted back to back and both suck. Fultz was just drafted and he's terrible. #1 picks are cursed in general.

Review the #1 picks every 6th year from 2019 and find a pick that didn't bust.

It's unfair to call Sampson a bust

[Sixersftw]

As a Sixers fan I went through this stuff with Embiid and it was very frustrating.

Embiid was a punchline for damaged goods by uninformed fans. We knew that, despite having a very dangerous injury, that he was not destined to medical failure.

It was touch and go at times, but he pulled through.

Zion has a knee injury right now, but that doesn’t mean anything about his future.

I hope and expect that it all works out for him because he is a great kid and is great for basketball.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Did he completely “pulled through”? He’s played 75% seasons in the past two years. He missed games in both playoffs and was only played 30mpg last year. He did play 34mpg in the Toronto series, but that’s still less than other superstars, and he wasn’t at his best.

Yes he completely came through as those stats are without any context. The issue that prompted all the "damaged goods" concerns with Embiid was his feet and to a much lesser degree his back. As it's been ~5 years since he's had any issue with his foot (knock on everything) I'd say he's completely pulled through. He's not immune to injury but none of his subsequent injuries seem related to the one that got him the "damaged goods" moniker. Markelle ran into him and broke his orbital bone. Hard to see a connection there. If you want to speculate that his injury to his right foot is effecting his left knee, by all means do so. I'd imagine its due to his weight and his knee clean up after a bad fall.

[Smirk]

The amount of people on the internet that come up with such utter crap and desperately want Zion to fail is beyond ridiculous. It is pathetic.

He will be fine.

[nikster]

The amount of people on the internet that come up with such utter crap and desperately want Zion to fail is beyond ridiculous. It is pathetic.

He will be fine.

nobody here wants him to have chronic knee problems, they just think he will/might.

And honestly whats utter crap about it? Dude has an abnormal gait and is one of the heaviest players in league history to play with that kind of athleticism. You can completely ignore that if you want

[leolozon]

As a Sixers fan I went through this stuff with Embiid and it was very frustrating.

Embiid was a punchline for damaged goods by uninformed fans. We knew that, despite having a very dangerous injury, that he was not destined to medical failure.

It was touch and go at times, but he pulled through.

Zion has a knee injury right now, but that doesn’t mean anything about his future.

I hope and expect that it all works out for him because he is a great kid and is great for basketball.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Did he completely “pulled through”? He’s played 75% seasons in the past two years. He missed games in both playoffs and was only played 30mpg last year. He did play 34mpg in the Toronto series, but that’s still less than other superstars, and he wasn’t at his best.

Yes he completely came through as those stats are without any context. The issue that prompted all the "damaged goods" concerns with Embiid was his feet and to a much lesser degree his back. As it's been ~5 years since he's had any issue with his foot (knock on everything) I'd say he's completely pulled through. He's not immune to injury but none of his subsequent injuries seem related to the one that got him the "damaged goods" moniker. Markelle ran into him and broke his orbital bone. Hard to see a connection there. If you want to speculate that his injury to his right foot is effecting his left knee, by all means do so. I'd imagine its due to his weight and his knee clean up after a bad fall.

No that’s not what I said and I don’t want to speculate on that. It seems like you are omitting things. Your perception is that people said his foot was his only health problem, while my perception is that it was always a general problem, not just the foot.

He had a back and knee injury in college. He still had a back problem in 2019. His left knee has been problematic for the past two years and it keeps coming back. Tendinitis can’t help.

I’m not sure why you think that most people think only his foot was a problem and that no foot problem means that he came through 100%.

[NO-KG-AI]

Every time a Zion thread is posted, the detractors add another 10 pounds to his weight. He'll be 360 pounds by the time these 6-8 weeks are up.

[D.Brasco]

Does anyone else remember when LeBron was a rookie and someone said because his feet point out instead of in, that he would have constant knee problems??

15 years later....

It took LeBron 16 years before he had any serious injury. Zion has had his first serious injury before his rookie season has officially started.

I'd compare Zion to Embiid or Griffin at this point when spinning a positive out of this.

[tundraknight]

With today’s medical advancements, how could scouts have missed such an important deformity in his knees?

I thought doctors and scouts were supposed to be informed compared to when Greg Oden was drafted?

[bargnanimvp]

Lmao.


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waiting for the draft sites to all start listing thigh gap in light of this breaking development....

well we know teams so already look at body shape to try and predict future injuries and if they can safely fill out their frame

[bargnanimvp]

This seems to be basing a lot on just 1 random Pels photo shoot.
His knees look perfectly straight there:


I don't think you need a special condition to be worried about the knees if you weigh 290 and play like Derrick Rose. He's an amazing specimen but should proactively manage his knees early.

left knee is clearly inwards there too...