Joel Embiid returns to Sixers lineup after one-game absence and social media controversy
This all comes after a bizarre Wednesday, when the Sixers ruled Embiid out and he refuted the team's official designation on social media.
Joel Embiid will return from a one-game absence due to illness for the 76ers’ Friday game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, per the team’s starting lineup announcement.
Embiid was listed as doubtful on Thursday evening’s injury report, then was upgraded to probable after participating in the team’s shootaround “from start to finish” Friday morning, coach Nick Nurse said during his pregame news conference.
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This all comes after a bizarre Wednesday, when the Sixers ruled Embiid out for that night’s game at the Washington Wizards with the illness after he did not attend the team’s morning film session. Embiid then went on social media to refute the team’s official designation, calling it an April Fool’s joke and saying he intended to play through the sickness. President of basketball operations Daryl Morey confirmed to The Inquirer later that day that Embiid would miss the game, and that he would be checked out by a doctor.
Embiid then shared one final message: “I guess they won’t let me play basketball!!”
Embiid said after the Sixers’ Monday loss at the Miami Heat that he was ill during that game after he finished with 26 points on 10-of-25 shooting.
“Physically, I just was not in it,” Embiid said then.
Wednesday’s absence occurred shortly after the former NBA Most Valuable Player returned on March 25 from an oblique strain in his right side that kept him sidelined for a month. Before that injury, Embiid was dealing with a stress reaction in his right shin as well as a right knee issue.
Prior to those ailments, Embiid enjoyed a dominant — and available — stretch from mid-December through early February, which put him in contention to be an All-Star reserve. He enters Friday averaging 26.9 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 3.9 assists in 36 games.
This is the latest injury-affected season for Embiid, who was limited to 19 games in 2024-25 and missed more than two months in 2023-24 because of multiple surgeries on his left knee.
The Sixers (42-34) are in a tight race for Eastern Conference postseason positioning with six games remaining. They entered Friday with the same record as the Toronto Raptors, but held the tiebreaker for sixth place because of division record. Both teams were 1½ games ahead of the eighth-place Charlotte Hornets, and 1½ games back of the fifth-place Atlanta Hawks.