Well, that’s not the news you’re looking for heading into a tough road trip.
The Sixers returned to practice Friday before hitting the road for Atlanta and Cleveland and with that came some injury updates. The team told reporters at practice that Joel Embiid (oblique strain) is progressing through individualized strength and conditioning work and will be re-evaluated in a week.
VJ Edgecombe (lumbar contusion) also did not fully practice with the team, also just taking part in individual workouts. The
team did not give his status for the Hawks game at practice, saving that instead for the official 5 p.m. injury report.
There was at least a shred of good news to come out of practice. Kelly Oubre Jr. was reportedly back today, so it seems like he should be good to go for Atlanta. He missed the Sixers’ previous two games with an illness.
Heading into this road trip, it looks very possible the Sixers continue to careen all the way down into Play-In tournament positioning. They’re already 0-3 against both the Hawks and the Cavaliers, having taken on those teams at much fuller strength.
It says a lot about this roster construction that they are viewed as dead on arrival for these games despite having a guy who started in the All-Star Game running the offense. This isn’t even a dig at him or the reserves who are currently healthy and available. They just don’t make sense as a collective unit in the modern NBA. A stat that’s made the rounds a bit on Twitter after their win over the Utah Jazz is that neither their starting small forward (Trendon Watford) or power forward (Dominick Barlow) attempted a single three all game. At least getting Oubre back will help that.
