Joel Embiid is out, but the 76ers are optimistic about the return timeline

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Philadelphia 76ers coach Nick Nurse expressed optimism about Joel Embiid’s return, saying his latest sinus fracture is “not nearly as serious” as the two previous facial fractures the 2023 NBA Most Valuable Player suffered in his career career.

Embiid was injured in the first half of Friday night’s 121-107 loss to the Indiana Pacers when he was hit in the face by Bennedict Mathurin while going for a defensive rebound.

The 76ers said Embiid will be reevaluated in a week.

Embiid did not play in Monday night’s 121-108 win against the Charlotte Hornets.

“The only thing I can compare it to, but I wasn’t here, but he definitely had the others that were a lot worse,” Nurse said before the 76ers’ game against the Hornets. “From what they’ve told me, it’s nowhere near as bad as those two. I guess that’s good because they were pretty tough – those two – and they say it’s not that bad.”

In 2018, Embiid broke his left orbital bone and suffered a concussion when he collided with former teammate Markelle Fultz, sidelining him for the final eight games of the regular season and the first two games of the 2018 NBA Playoffs.

In April 2022, Embiid was hit by an elbow from Pascal Siakam during Philadelphia’s decisive Game 6 win against the Toronto Raptors. Embiid suffered a fracture to his right eye socket, forcing the seven-time All-Star to miss the first two games of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Embiid has played in just six games this season due to knee soreness and is averaging just 20.3 points per game for the 76ers (7-16), well below his career average.

“Look, he’s having a hard enough time getting going,” the nurse said. “The knee after surgery and all those things are enough to focus on. This will not improve his conditioning ability. He’s going to have to recover from some of these things – breathing isn’t going to be easy for a while, so it obviously makes it really difficult… Hopefully he needs to get all of these little things out of the way so he can get ready for recovery of the knee. “Go back out there and play for a while.”

The Sixers also recently lost rookie guard Jared McCain to a torn lateral meniscus. He underwent successful surgery on Tuesday and is out indefinitely.