Sixers

Reports: Joel Embiid Will Not Play Thursday

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Feb 26th, 2019 · 3:37 PM EST

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Oh good!

No Joel in Oklahoma City, per Keith Pompey and Serena Winters:

#Sixers center @JoelEmbiid will NOT play against #OKCThunder. The Sixers will be without the #AllStar and backup center @BobanMarjanovic in the game. Embiid has yet to be re-evaluated. That will happen in the coming days. His status will be determined during that time.

— Keith Pompey (@PompeyOnSixers) February 26, 2019

Joel Embiid will not play in Thursday’s game in OKC. He is back in Philly getting rehab for his sore left knee. An update on Joel is expected before Saturday’s game against GSW. #Sixers

— Serena Winters (@SerenaWinters) February 26, 2019

Hear me out:

This might be a blessing in disguise. I don’t know if Sixers fans want Embiid returning for a road game against a guy in Russell Westbrook, with whom he’s had previous beef. The last thing you need is Embiid, who hasn’t played in nine days, walking into a difficult matchup against Steven Adams and an All-Star point guard with a chip on his shoulder. There’s a risk of Joel going overboard and trying to play hero ball as he knocks off the rust.

It’s still absurd that Embiid would miss four straight games after playing in the meaningless All-Star Game, but at least you can maybe aim for the home game against Golden State for a return, which I think is better than asking him to play a really tough road game in OKC.

As for the center position, I think you roll with Jonah Bolden as a starter and then try to go small by staggering Ben Simmons and Mike Scott at the five. It’s not gonna be pretty, but I do not believe Amir Johnson should be an option.