Philadelphia 76ers fans experienced yet another gut-punch on Wednesday, when the team announced that Joel Embiid — light of our lives, Internet superhero and, as of this year, honest-to-goodness NBA basketball-playing behemoth — will miss the rest of the season with a tear to the meniscus in his left knee. After missing the first two seasons of his professional career due to a fractured navicular bone in his right foot, Embiid finally got healthy enough to play this season, and looked for all the world like the superstar-in-the-making that Process-server Sam Hinkie expected him to be when he rolled the dice on the injured big man out of Kansas with the No. 3 pick in the 2014 NBA draft.

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Even operating under a minutes restriction intended to preserve his body that limited him to 28 minutes per contest and ensured he wouldn’t play back-to-back games, Embiid was a revelation. Through 31 games, he averaged 20.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.5 blocks and 2.1 assists in just 25.4 minutes a night, a level of per-minute production that evoked comparisons to the likes of Hall of Famers Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, Shaquille O’Neal, Patrick Ewing, David Robinson, Walt Bellamy and All-NBA marvel Anthony Davis.

He was an instant defensive game-changer, a rim protector who looked surprisingly comfortable and adept moving in space for a 7-foot-2-inch, 260-plus pounder. On most nights, he was also the Sixers’ sole reliable source of offense. He was an All-Star-caliber performer, and one of the most influential players in the sport. Provided he stayed on the court, he appear to have Rookie of the Year honors sewn up by Christmas.

He hasn’t stayed on the court, though. And now we have to start reckoning with that fact.

View photos Joel Embiid. (Getty Images) More

Embiid’s rookie year will end with 786 total minutes played over the space of 31 games. The fewest minutes ever played by a Rookie of the Year winner? Kyrie Irving’s 1,558 during the 2011-12 season, nearly twice as many as Embiid. The fewest games ever played in a season by a Rookie of the Year? Fifty, by Patrick Ewing in 1985-86 and Vince Carter in 1998-99 (which doesn’t really count, because that season was limited to just 50 games by a lockout).

The fewest minutes per game of any Rookie of the Year? That’d be 29.1, nearly four more per game than Embiid, turned in by Mike Miller for the Orlando Magic in 2000-01 — a season widely regarded as featuring the the worst rookie class of all time … until, perhaps, this one, which features only one other double-figure scorer, only four other players who have posted more than one double-double, and relatively few impact contributors of note, whether on good teams or bad.

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During his time on the floor, Embiid was very, very clearly the best rookie in his class, and voters very well might opt to reward him for the excellence of what he provided rather than penalizing him for his inability to provide more of it. For the sake of argument, though, let’s say that you believe Embiid’s sheer unavailability — the fact that he will wind up suiting up for less than 38 percent of Philly’s games and only about 20 percent of their total minutes — should disqualify him from consideration. Who else should merit consideration for Rookie of the Year honors?

How about:

View photos The Homie Dario Saric gets pumped up. (AP) More