As teams continue to jostle for playoff position in the final weeks of the NBA regular season, there’s a giant, 7-foot cloud hanging over the entire Eastern Conference: Will 76ers superstar Joel Embiid return and, if so, when?
Nick Nurse did not share a return-to-play timeline at practice on Thursday, but told reporters that Embiid would be on the road with the Sixers when they visit Cleveland on Friday and Toronto on Sunday.
“He is going on the trip to work out, yes.” Nurse said, via KYW Newsradio’s Dave Uram.
Embiid was on the court at practice, but he’s not yet playing 5-on-5 or taking contact. He has missed 28 games after suffering a meniscus injury on Jan. 30 at Golden State that required surgery on Feb. 6.
“Joel was in practice — I mean, [he didn’t] really practice, but he was in today, doing work,” Nurse said. “He was doing it against other players. Just kind of skill work, with kind of some live bodies.”
The day after a heartbreaking (and controversial) loss against the Clippers, Nurse said that he’d love to have Embiid — and De’Anthony Melton and Robert Covington, who are also sidelined — back in the lineup, but, in the meantime, he is ready to go “into battle with the guys here, to continue to polish and improve this group.”
“I still don’t, like, have a timeline,” Nurse said. “I’d love to give you one. I mean, I would love to not have to continue this [back and forth about Embiid’s status] — and that means he’s back playing, right? — but, again, I think that it’s coming. But I also understand that, like, I see some growth here. I think this is helping us.”
Prior to the 108-107 loss in Los Angeles. Nurse said there is a “very good likelihood” that Embiid will return before the postseason. This was music to the ears of the 76ers and their fans, but Nurse did not offer a concrete timeline then, either.
“I think there’s a very good likelihood that he will return before the play-in/playoff,” Nurse told reporters, via NBC Sports Philadelphia.
Embiid has been “out there working,” Nurse said. “He’s doing lots of skill work and things like that, and just trying to continue to advance, all that stuff.”
Asked if Embiid has sccrimmaged with the Sixers’ low-minute players yet, Nurse implied he has not. “He’s on the court,” he said. “So, we’ll let you know when he gets to those stages.”
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Wednesday that there is optimism…
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