Because they are so infrequent, injuries to the navicular bone aren't dreaded the same way as ACL and Achilles injuries, or microfracture knee surgery. But for a big man, there's no worse sentence than the one Joel Embiid received Thursday: a stress fracture to the navicular bone in his right foot, for which he'll undergo surgery immediately.
Recurring navicular injuries ended Yao Ming's career prematurely, and kept Bill Walton on the sidelines for much of his prime years. Now, teams considering drafting Embiid must weigh his potential against the possibility that he suffers a similar fate.