Joel Embiid's knee soreness persists despite progression, leaving him on a day-to-day status.
After a solid start to the season, Joel Embiid has missed the Philadelphia 76ers' last six games due to right knee soreness. While this came as a shock to many, particularly with it not being the knee he had surgery on, the situation has only gotten worse from there.
The most puzzling aspect about the injury is that the game prior was his best game of the season so far, and that was more so from a movement aspect, as he looked much more fluid on the court than he has in a long time. That said, it's very possible that this excessive movement is what led to the soreness in the first place.
Earlier this week, the Sixers played in yet another back-to-back, and Embiid was listed as doubtful against the Toronto Raptors rather than out, which led people to believe that he would be returning in the next game after not playing in the first leg.
Unfortunately, however, that wasn't the case, and Embiid remained out and will likely be out again in their next matchup with the Miami Heat on Sunday afternoon. The team announced that while Embiid is progressing, he's still experiencing soreness, even with a light walk-through practice today.
The team also announced that Adem Bona will remain out for the next two games and be re-evaluated after their game on Tuesday.
With both Bona and Embiid out, the team will continue to lack some depth in their frontcourt and will need to keep playing through their star backcourt trio. That said, Andre Drummond has been incredible filling in as a backup center, recording five-straight double-doubles before snapping his streak to the Milwaukee Bucks.
Drummond got into foul trouble earlier against Milwaukee, so he only played 18 minutes. Across every game that he's played more than 25 minutes in this season, Drummond has averaged 13.3 PPG and 13.2 RPG. This has been the one silver lining in Embiid's injury, as Drummond has displayed that he's still one of the best backup bigs in the league, which will be huge come playoff time.
With Kelly Oubre Jr. also out for the time being, it'll be important that Embiid returns as soon as possible to give the team a chance at keeping their record afloat through the regular season. Paul George's return has already helped them to an extent, but they'll need their star center to return as well to see this success consistently.