However, the Philadelphia 76ers announced Wednesday that Embiid, who has been plagued by injury throughout the season and his early career, will be out the rest of the season because of a meniscus tear in his left knee. To date, Embiid has the NBA’s rookie of the year award on lockdown. Despite missing a chunk of the season, it would be natural to think it opens the door for another rookie to claim the prize. The truth is, it’s still pretty much a no contest.

Embiid has only played in one of the 76ers’ last 15 games — a 32-point, seven-rebound, four-assist night against the Houston Rockets — and has logged just 786 minutes on the season. Kyrie Irving played 1,558 minutes during the 2011-12 season when he won the 2011-12 Rookie of the Year award with the Cleveland Cavaliers, the fewest minutes played by a rookie of the year winner in NBA history.

By winning the award Embiid would be shattering an NBA record, but it would also be very well deserved. Before his injury, Embiid was finishing 40.2 percent of his team’s possessions with a shot, pass, turnover or trip to the free throw line, a rate similar to what is seen with other NBA stars like LeBron James (41.3 percent) and Steph Curry (38.1 percent). According to Player Efficiency Rating, a measure of per-minute production standardized such that the league average is 15, Embiid (24.2 PER) is just as efficient as two-time MVP Steph Curry this season, while other standout rookies such as Milwaukee Bucks guard Malcolm Brogdon (14.1 PER), Los Angeles Lakers forward Brandon Ingram (7.4 PER) and Embiid’s teammate Dario Saric (11.8 PER) are all below average despite being used far less often.

Embiid’s true shooting percentage (58.4 percent) is also the highest of the rookie class and just as good as Kevin Love (58.2 percent) and Jimmy Butler (58.4 percent), two players who were All Stars this season. Brogdon’s true shooting percentage is close (54.4 percent) but Saric (49.8 percent) and Ingram (45.7 percent) are both below average (55.2 percent).

Embiid is also the only rookie who is averaging over 30 points per 100 possessions (38.9) and his 3.6 Box Plus/Minus (a box score estimate of the points per 100 possessions a player contributes above a league-average player), translated to an average team, ranks 28th among all NBA players with at least 700 minutes played. No other rookie with at least that much court time has a positive BPM this season. Brogdon (minus-1.3 BPM), Ingram (minus-4.4 BPM) and Saric (minus-2.8 BPM) are all below average. Embiid is on another planet compared to his first-year peers.

Saric is playing well since Jan. 21, but with him on the court the 76ers are still being outscored by 1.6 net points per 100 possessions with a lower effective field goal percentage (50.7 percent) than when he is on the bench (51.4 eFG%). With Embiid on the court, Philadelphia has a net rating of plus-3.2, the same as the playoff-bound Boston Celtics. Without him the 76ers have a net rating of minus-8.9, worse than the basement dwelling Brooklyn Nets.