Coming off an exhausting loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday, the Philadelphia 76ers are looking to bounce back against the visiting Washington Wizards. Unfortunately, they'll do so without one of their top stars, as Joel Embiid is set to miss his 13th game of the team's first 20 of the year.
According to the team's official injury report, released at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, Embiid will miss the Tuesday night matchup as he and the Sixers continue to manage the soreness in his right knee.
Embiid returned against the Hawks in his first game since Nov. 8, and looked very much like a player who has not seen the court in nearly a month. While offensively Embiid was still able to put the ball in the bucket, looking almost like himself on certain shots, defensively, he was either unable or unwilling to move for the entire game, especially as his minutes wore on.
His future remains as murky as ever, and the back-and-forth of Embiid playing and then missing time will likely be the most consistent part of his game moving forward.
In addition to Embiid, Kelly Oubre Jr. and Trendon Watford will also miss this matchup, though there were some positives in the injury report.
Rookie wing VJ Edgecombe was nowhere to be found on the report, meaning that barring any last-second setback or change, he will be ready to go, though he may still have a minutes restriction.
Two players less certain than Edgecombe but more than Embiid are Paul George and Andre Drummond, who are both "questionable" for the matchup. George, like Embiid, returned Friday against the Nets and was also available against the Hawks. The nine-time All-Star played well on a minutes restriction, but continues his regular left knee recovery. Unfortunately, the report mentioned that he is suffering from lower back tightness, which should be monitored moving forward.
Drummond, who suffered a contusion to his right knee on Friday against the Nets, played six minutes against the Hawks before being ruled out for the rest of the game at halftime due to soreness in his knee.
Come the 6:30 p.m. report, guard Quentin Grimes was added as "probable," dealing with right calf soreness.
While it's far from ideal, the Sixers are at least slightly better off than last week with their active injury cases.
