Sixers' Embiid reportedly suffers minor setback

Joel Embiid lit up the Internet on Friday night after the 76ers posted videos on social media of him throwing down between-the-legs dunks.

By Monday night, the question was whether those dunks caused the 76ers' cornerstone player to reinjure his surgically repaired foot.

A report Monday on the Calkins Media website said Embiid had experienced a "minor setback" in his rehab and apparently was wearing a walking boot again. The Sixers were not available for comment.

Embiid had surgery to repair the broken navicular bone on his right foot on June 20. Surgeon Richard Ferkel, who performed the operation in California, could not be reached for comment Monday night.

CSNPhilly.com reported that Embiid would visit his doctor for a checkup Tuesday in California.

But if Embiid's pregame dunking display led to the setback, it does not mean the big man reinjured the navicular bone, according to Arthur Bartolozzi, the former team physician for the Eagles and Flyers.

"Given the limited amount of information, the question is, 'If he broke it would he be back in the walking boot?' " said Bartolozzi, who has not treated Embiid. "And the answer to that is no. If he rebroke the bone, he likely would have rebroke the hardware."

The 7-footer from Cameroon had two screws inserted to repair the fracture in the small bone at the top of his foot.

Embiid may have sprained his ankle or twisted his foot. "Those are all the kind of things that are treated with a walking boot," Bartolozzi said.

Embiid, who turns 21 on March 16, underwent surgery six days before the Sixers made the former Kansas Jayhawk the No. 3 pick in the 2014 draft.

Ferkel told The Inquirer in July that five to eight months was "a fair number" to anticipate Embiid's return. That timetable would have meant a return on Feb. 20. At the end of February, Sixers coach Brett Brown indicated that he did not anticipate Embiid's playing this season.

Embiid apparently was at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine for practice on Monday, but he did not take the court while the media was present.

Brown was asked, as a joke, whether Embiid was spending any more time going between his legs.

The coach rolled his eyes.

"He's just doing what he's been doing," Brown said. "Nice and slow."

Isaiah Canaan (upper respiratory infection) and Nerlens Noel (left shinsplints) missed practice.

Brown said he did not know Canaan's status, but expected Noel, who has been dealing with the issue for some time, to practice on Tuesday.

"The fact that he has only missed four games is as impressive of a stat that you can associate with Nerlens," Brown said.

@MarkMacyk