Embiid, who has been out due to a knee ailment, will appear in his 14th game of the season against Dallas
Embiid, who has been out due to a knee ailment, will appear in his 14th game of the season against Dallas
Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid will return from a 15-game absence on Tuesday when the team hosts the Dallas Mavericks. He is officially listed as available on the 5:30 p.m. ET injury report.
Embiid, who has appeared in 13 of Philadelphia’s 48 games this season, has been sidelined since Jan. 4. Initially, he was out of the lineup due to a sprained left foot, but as he was working his way back from that injury, the team announced on Jan. 17 that he had “experienced an increase in swelling in his left knee.”
The Sixers went 5-10 during this absence and are 19-29 on the season, but they have at least been playing better lately. They’d won four straight games before a 137-134 loss against the Denver Nuggets last Friday and a 118-110 loss to the Boston Celtics on Sunday.
About 60% of the way through the season, Philadelphia’s Big Three of Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Paul George have logged only 192 minutes together. The trio has appeared in 10 games together, but, since George was injured in the first of them and Embiid was ejected from one and left another with an injury, it has only actually finished seven games. The Sixers went 6-1 in those games, including a 118-114 win against the Boston Celtics on Christmas Day.
Given the team’s disappointing record, Embiid’s injury issues and the encouraging recent play of role players like Eric Gordon and Kelly Oubre Jr., Philadelphia is an interesting team to monitor as Thursday’s trade deadline approaches. It appears, though, that Daryl Morey’s front office still wants to salvage this season.
Ideally, Embiid will not have any more extended absences, and the Sixers will be able to move up several spots in the standings. At the moment, they are in 11th place in the Eastern Conference, 3.5 games behind the eighth-place Orlando Magic and 5.5 games behind the sixth-place Miami Heat.
The trade that Philadelphia made on Tuesday might help. The departing Caleb Martin, a solid role player who joined the team on a bargain of a contract last summer but hasn’t played since Jan. 12 due to a hip injury, does not have the same kind of shooting gravity as the newly acquired Quentin Grimes, a plug-and-play wing who seems like an ideal fit next to Embiid, Maxey and George.
Grimes, who was acquired from the Mavericks, is not expected to be available on Tuesday even though he’ll be in the building. The Sixers will also be without George (finger), Gordon (knee), backup point guard Kyle Lowry (hip) and backup center Andre Drummond (toe). With Embiid returning, though, this is a rare instance in which they will not enter a game much more shorthanded than their opponent. In addition to Martin, Dallas will be without new starting power forward Anthony Davis (abdominal), center Dereck Lively II (ankle), forward P.J. Washington (personal reasons) and backup center Dwight Powell (hip). Max Christie, the wing the Mavericks acquired from the Los Angeles Lakers in the Luka Doncic trade, is available to make his debut.
Embiid doesn’t have a strict minutes limit, but could realistically play around 30 minutes on Tuesday, Philadelphia coach Nick Nurse told reporters pregame (via ESPN’s Tim Bontemps). Guerschon Yabusele will start next to Embiid in the frontcourt, as Nurse told reporters (via Philly Voice’s Adam Aaronson) that the Sixers have to “figure out how to get our five best guys on the floor, and he’s certainly one of those.”
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