December 18, 2020
Joel Embiid will miss the Sixers' preseason finale against the Indiana Pacers, a team official said Friday, due to an illness Philadelphia says is not related to COVID-19. The Sixers kept him home on the brief road trip as a precautionary measure, allowing him to rest at home over the weekend.
Information on the nature of the illness beyond that has not been revealed as of this writing. A team official told PhillyVoice that Embiid was, "under the care of our team doctors and we don't have a timetable for his return, but we're optimistic it will be soon."
After a celebrated preseason debut against the Boston Celtics where Embiid looked to be in good shape to start the year, the big man looked to be on the right path to start the 2020-21 season. Head coach Doc Rivers was thrilled with his performance on Tuesday night, noting it could serve as a blueprint for a successful Embiid game this season.
Picking up an illness is not exactly out of the ordinary for Embiid, who struggled through stomach issues during Philadelphia's second-round series vs. the Raptors in 2019, but there's heightened concern this year with a public health crisis still unfolding around the world. Getting out of the preseason healthy is the team's No. 1 goal, so it's no shock they'd be extra cautious regarding his health with the opener looming next Wednesday.
Embiid's absence does provide Philadelphia with an interesting opportunity to see how the new-look team functions with the big fella out, something they'll presumably have to deal with at points throughout the season. Dwight Howard was one of the standout performers in their opener against Boston, and Rivers will get to see how the group functions with Howard alongside the other four starters. The fit between Howard and Ben Simmons is of particular intrigue — can they weaponize their athleticism advantage against Indiana, or will spacing issues junk up the offense?
It also opens up more minutes for backup bigs who are on the roster bubble at the moment. Philadelphia needs to cut one more player to get down to the roster limit before the regular season starts, and while there are ramifications for cutting players on guaranteed deals they'd like to avoid, keeping a fourth big man (to say nothing of two-way player Paul Reed) feels a bit unnecessary. Tony Bradley seems like the safer bet to make the roster at this point, but Vincent Poirier should get a chance outside of garbage time on Friday thanks to Embiid's absence.
Beyond that, not a whole lot more to say one way or another at this point. We'll continue to monitor the situation as more information comes in, and the Sixers will hope some fluids and rest will be enough to get the big fella through the weekend and ready for their season opener vs. Washington.
This story is developing...
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