NBA Draft 2014 Mock & News: Joel Embiid Suffers Foot Injury; Top Pick May Miss Drafts?

Joel Embiid, a potential No. 1 pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, is in a major predicament.

The Kansas college star suffered a stress fracture in his right foot and is bound to go under the knife on June 20, according to Sports Illustrated. Arn Tellem, his agent, said that the stress fracture is located in the navicular bone of his right foot. The injury was initially discovered by doctors of the Cleveland Cavaliers when they did a thorough physical exam.

The 7-foot center will no longer be able to join further draft workouts and will not attend the NBA Drafts 2014 in New York City.

Embiid had previously been training with the Cavaliers. He was also set to privately train with the Milwaukee Bucks who will be picking second in the draft late in July. The agent concluded that there will be no comments until Embiid is done with the surgery.

After finding the foot damage, the Cavaliers, who are set to pick first in the drafts, are now eyeing Dante Exum, Jabari Parker and Andrew Wiggins as their pick. However, the Cavs did not completely dismiss the possibility of still going for Embiid, since they were impressed with his private workouts. His previous back injury was not an issue, according to Cleveland, although they still have to evaluate if there are long term risks. Cleveland won the lottery draft pick despite having a less than 2% chance of winning.

In a report by CBS Sports, when Embiid was playing at Kansas, he had to miss games because of a back injury. He also did not play in the NCAA tournaments or Big 12. Embiid is 20 years old and averaged 11.2 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.6 blocks while playing for the Jayhawks for 23.1 minutes.

ESPN writes that Embiid will not be in the New York draft because we will not be able to fly for 10 to 14 days after surgery.

It is not the first time that a potential No. 1 pick has slipped out due to an injury. In 2013, Nerlens Noel was also the expected No. 1 pick but moved to No. 6 after suffering from a knee injury. The Sixers acquired Noel but he had to stay on the bench for the whole season. Other potential first overall picks include Jabari Parker from Duke and Andrew Wiggins from Kansas. Exum came from Australia. Should Cleveland fail to pick Embiid, they will need to revamp their strategy which originally included plays with the big man.