Philadelphia 76ers rookie Jared McCain has been diagnosed with a torn lateral meniscus in his left knee, the team announced Saturday. McCain will undergo surgery in the near future and has been ruled out indefinitely.
It's unclear when the injury occurred. The team indicated that McCain reported soreness in his left knee after the team's loss to the Indiana Pacers on Friday. McCain played 29 minutes in that contest and finished with five points and three assists off the bench. The Sixers also lost Joel Embiid in that game to a sinus fracture.
McCain, the No. 16 overall pick, was the leading candidate for Rookie of the Year through the first quarter of the NBA season. Through 23 games, he was averaging 15.3 points, which leads all rookies, 2.4 rebounds and 2.6 assists, while shooting 38.3% from 3-point range.
While Tyrese Maxey was injured earlier in the season, McCain moved into a starting role and had multiple 30-point games. During one of those performances, a 30-point showing in a win over the Brooklyn Nets, McCain surpassed Allen Iverson for the most points ever by a Sixers guard in their first 15 games.
It's worth noting that Rookie of the Year is not impacted by the league's new 65-game threshold for major awards. Depending on when, or if, McCain returns, it's still possible that he could win that honor, especially without another standout candidate. The last Sixers player to win ROY was Ben Simmons in 2018.
McCain's torn meniscus is the latest blow for a Sixers team that has dealt with extensive injury problems this season. Embiid, Maxey and Paul George have all missed significant time and have still only played 45 total minutes together.
As a result the team is stuck in 12th place in Eastern Conference at 7-16. Despite how bad things have been in Philadelphia, the Sixers are only two games out of a Play-In Tournament spot and 5.5 games back of a top-six seed and guaranteed playoff spot.
They can still very easily make the postseason, and perhaps even make some noise in the weak East, but only if they can ever get healthy. That "if" is becoming bigger and bigger by the day.
