Joel Embiid could be back on the court for the Philadelphia 76ers Tuesday night.
Both https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1774798524858683752 and https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1774798720241971357 reported that Embiid is incredibly close to a return, and that could happen Tuesday night when the 76ers host the Thunder (both newsbreakers’ having this is a sign that it’s going to happen, barring a setback). If not, it’s going to be in the coming week—before the end of the regular season and in time for Embiiid to ramp up for a playoff run with the 76ers.
76ers coach Nick Nurse said last week he thought Embiid would return during the regular season.,
Embiid has been out since Feb. 1 following surgery for a torn left lateral meniscus. Before that he was having another MVP-level season, averaging 35.3 points and 11.5 rebounds a game. Embiid was on pace to join Wilt Chamberlain as the only player in NBA history to average more than a point per minute played. (Embiid has now missed too many games to qualify for postseason awards under the NBA’s new 65-game rule, although he missed so many he would have been out of the MVP running in the minds of voters even without the rule. He also has missed too many games to qualify for things such as the league’s scoring title, which now will be Luka Doncic at 34 points a game.)
Philadelphia has gone 11-18 since Embiid went out and slid back to the No. 8 seed in the East and almost certainly will have to come out of the Play-In Tournament to make the postseason (and likely make the Celtics or Bucks in the first round). The 76ers are 1.5 games back of the Heat (two games in the loss column) for the No. 7 seed, and are two games back of the No. 6 seed Pacers (and Indiana has the tiebreaker). It’s too much ground to make up on Indy with seven games to play.
Philadelphia will come out of the play-in, but Boston or Milwaukee do not want to see a healthy Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and the rest of the 76ers in the first round.
