After Loss to Knicks, What’s the Latest on Joel Embiid?

Joel Embiid missed his third-straight matchup against the New York Knicks on Friday.

When the Philadelphia 76ers faced the New York Knicks on Friday night, they missed both of their All-Stars. James Harden’s absence was expected, as the star guard suffered a tendon strain in his right foot against the Washington Wizards on Wednesday.

As for Joel Embiid, his playing status was up in the air going into the matchup. Last Friday, Embiid missed his first game of the season due to knee injury recovery. While he returned to the floor on the second night of a back-to-back against the Chicago Bulls, Embiid missed the following Monday’s matchup against the Washington Wizards due to a non-COVID illness.

On Wednesday, he was out for the rematch as well. At that point, Doc Rivers revealed that Embiid hadn’t been around the team. As the medical staff suggested he should remain away from the team until he feels better, the big man obliged.

By Friday morning, Embiid was back at the Sixers’ practice facility. As the team participated in a shootaround session hours before tipping off against the New York Knicks, a questionable Embiid took the court with the idea of potentially making his return on Friday night.

“We didn’t know,” said Doc Rivers regarding Embiid’s status going into Friday’s game. “Honestly, we didn’t know.” Based on how Embiid looked during the Friday morning session, Rivers was unsure if he wanted the All-Star to play based on the eye test.

“I was 50/50 watching him in shootaround,” Rivers continued. “I thought he was really struggling. He went through like 25 percent of shootaround this morning. You can see he wasn’t feeling great. He showed up, went out on the floor, got shots, and just felt bad.”

Embiid arrived at the Wells Fargo Center on Friday night with the intention of potentially playing. Viewed as a game-time decision, Embiid warmed up to play, which was a step in the right direction. Ultimately, he was ruled out, though. Shortly after going through a brief warmup, Embiid returned to street clothes and remained away from the team. 

“It’s just that time of the year where the weather is changing,” said Sixers guard Tyrese Maxey. “Philly decides it wants to be hot, 80 degrees, then it wants to be 40 degrees, and now I’m freezing. I think everybody’s getting a little under the weather. We just got to keep pushing. Keep pushing. It’s a long season, and it’s just the beginning.”

Without Embiid, the Sixers fell short to the New York Knicks 106-104. With the next two days off, Rivers and the Sixers hope that’s enough time to get the big man back into the swing of things.

“The way we look at it, we have the next two days off with practice, and now we can ramp him up and get him back,” Rivers continued. “Obviously, we want to win the game, and putting him on the floor would obviously help us, but we got to also think of the long game as well. I thought it was the right decision not to play.”

Embiid’s return process won’t be as simple as showing up and picking up where he left off. With a recent history of plantar fasciitis, the big man was already struggling with his game conditioning as he missed time in the offseason. Adding the flu into the mix just makes the battle to get back to the MVP level he was over the last two years even tougher.

“It’s tough for him to condition when you have a foot, you know what I’m saying?” Rivers explained. “We do have things with the pool and the AlterG, which you can run with no weight-bearing stuff. But first, he has to get healthy enough to breath from the flu so he can get back to running. That’s why we just have to be very careful in this stretch coming up. Again, we’ve got to think about the long game.”

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.