The Philadelphia 76ers assembled a team of five doctors to work on Joel Embiid's bone-graft surgery on the navicular bone in his right foot in effort to avoid another setback, according to philly.com.

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Doctors Martin O'Malley, Richard Ferkel, Dufetti Fufa, Jonathan Glashow and Sixers team physican Christopher Dodson did the three-hour  procedure on Embiid at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York.

Sixers general manager Sam Hinkie described the doctors as highly-sought-after professionals.

Hinkie said they wanted to provide the best possible care for Embiid to enable him to have  long and successful stint in the NBA.

According to O'Malley, they replaced two screws and used bone from Embiid's hip for the graft.

There were no complications.

However, Embiid is expected to miss the entire next season, reports ESPN.

The 7-0 Embiid, selected third in the 2014 draft, already missed the entire 2014-2015 season for a different health condition, which is a stress fracture in the foot.

To think that Embiid's health issue entering the  2014 draft was a back injury---a lumbar stress fracture called  as spondylolysis--suffered four months earlier, automatically evokes memories of Portland Trail Blazers' No. 1 pick in 2007, Greg Oden.

A microfracture surgery of the knee caused Oden to miss the entire 2007-08, which would have also been his NBA rookie season.

Oden was eventually waived by the Blazers in 2012 after a long history of more injuries.

Oden has so far totaled only 105 NBA games at this point and is trying out his luck for the Jiangsu Dragons in the Chinese league.

Furthermore, a stress fracture in the navicular bone could potentially hinder Embiid's career the way it did for Houston Rockets' Yao Ming, who after suffering the injury twice in 2008 and 2009 forced him to retire in 2011. 

Tagsphiladelphia 76ers, Sixers, Joel Embiid, bone-graft surgery, navicular bone, NBA injuires, Greg Oden, Yao Ming, Portland Trail Blazers