As the Philadelphia 76ers gear up for tonight’s home game against the Toronto Raptors, we received a good sign on the availability of two of their stars. Joel Embiid and LeBron James both participated in morning shootaround after being placed on the injury report as questionable yesterday evening. Embiid even spoke to reporters, but could not provide any further information about whether he will suit up tonight.
Nevertheless, you’d rather see the two of them out there than not. The Sixers could certainly use their two largest starters against Toronto, particularly with the handful of absences already in the frontcourt. On that note, Dominick Barlow also participated in shootaround, but there is still no timeline for his return. Barlow has yet to make his season debut due to back soreness, but does appear to be getting closer. On the less optimistic side of things, though, backup center Adem Bona was said to have seen a specialist and will be out at least a week before being re-evaluated. He last played on November 4 in Detroit, sitting out recent games due to a cervical spine sprain. Without Bona, the Sixers have been playing small in the minutes when Embiid sits. Nick Nurse has not opted to utilize two-way contract big man Tacko Fall, who has only appeared in three minutes of garbage time this season.
We’ll await word closer to game time on the availability of Embiid and James. Either way, expect plenty of minutes for Dean Wade and Jabari Walker. Stay tuned.
