Sixers

Joel Embiid Hopes to Play Next Week

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Jan 24th, 2020 · 3:58 PM EST

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Sixers/Lakers tomorrow night.

No Josh Richardson, who is out with a hamstring strain.

No Joel Embiid, who is still healing after surgery on his dislocated finger.

Embiid, named an All Star on Thursday night, said Friday he hopes to play next week:

Joel Embiid: "Not concerned about all-star. Right now we're sixth. Hopefully next week I'm able to play."

Says he has to go through practice and see how hand reacts to getting slapped/contact. Also has to work on conditioning.

Says that he has to wear a cast when he’s back. pic.twitter.com/ktu7KTlpjI

— Rich Hofmann (@rich_hofmann) January 24, 2020

The team did call up Zhaire Smith, who has played the entirety of the season down in Delaware. He’s averaging 27 minutes a game and putting up the following numbers:

• 13 points
• 50.8 field goal percentage
• 36.5% from three (four attempts per game)
• 78.9% from the line
• 3.5 rebounds
• 2.1 assists
• 2.3 turnovers
• 0.7 steals
• 0.7 blocks

He’ll get a chance over the next few games to show what he can do. Without Richardson and Embiid in the folder, you’re looking at heavy Matisse Thybulle and Furkan Korkmaz minutes, with Smith joining the likes of Shake Milton, Raul Neto, James Ennis, and Mike Scott off the bench. We’ll see if Brett Brown goes back to Trey Burke at all or leaves him on the bench.

Have a good weekend.