Center Joel Embiid and swingman Josh Richardson were back at practice for the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday, but their status for the team’s next game remains unknown.
Embiid has been out since injuring his left shoulder in a Feb. 26 collision with the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Ante Zizic in the Sixers’ loss that night. An MRI shortly thereafter revealed no structural damage to Embiid’s shoulder and he was slated to miss a week with the injury. He’s closer to two weeks now and his status for Wednesday’s home game against the Detroit Pistons (7 ET, League Pass) is unknown.
Including the game vs. Cleveland (which Embiid played only 7 minutes of), the Sixers have gone 2-4 with him out of the lineup. He’s averaging 23.8 points and 12 rebounds this season.
Richardson suffered a bruised nose during in the second quarter of a March 1 road loss to the LA Clippers. He was put into the NBA’s concussion protocol and has missed the team’s last three games.
Joel Embiid (left shoulder sprain) participated in practice today, status TBD for tomorrow night vs. the Pistons. Josh Richardson has cleared concussion protocol, his status is also TBD.
— Paul Hudrick (@PaulHudrick) March 10, 2020
#Sixers G Josh Richardson on dealing with a concussion for the first time: pic.twitter.com/53u0xIpuVd
— Tom Moore (@TomMoorePhilly) March 10, 2020
#Sixers Joel Embiid getting some shots up pic.twitter.com/weDFQ9EwXT
— Marc Narducci (@sjnard) March 10, 2020
Additionally, All-Star guard Ben Simmons has been out of the Sixers’ lineup since a Feb. 22 road loss to the Milwaukee Bucks because of nerve impingement in his lower back. The diagnosis then was for Simmons to miss two weeks, a timeline he surpassed last Saturday. There was no update on his status as of Tuesday’s practice, but the team said there should be one on him in the coming days.
There was no update on Ben Simmons but the #Sixers say there should be one in the next few days.
— Marc Narducci (@sjnard) March 10, 2020
Simmons is averaging 16.7 points, 7.8 rebounds, 8.2 assists and 2.1 steals in 35.7 minutes per game. Embiid’s injury came as the Sixers were preparing to play without Simmons and Richardson’s injury followed just days later.
After appearing in 81 and 79 games, respectively, in his first two seasons, Simmons has appeared in 54 games this season. Embiid passed the 60-game mark the past two seasons (63 in 2017-18; 64 in 2018-19), but has played in just 43 games as injuries continue to sidetrack him at various points in his NBA career.
The Sixers are 38-26 overall this season and have lost five of their last 10 games. They are the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference, but only trail the No. 5-seeded Indiana Pacers by one game and are just 4 1/2 games behind the No. 3-seeded Boston Celtics.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
