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After Practice Absences, Will Thybulle and Korkmaz Face Bucks?

Matisse Thybulle and Furkan Korkmaz haven't been practicing. Will that affect their game status for Friday's matchup against the Bucks?

The Philadelphia 76ers are one day away from resuming their schedule. After participating in 14 matchups through the first month of the season, the Sixers got a rare four-day break beginning on Monday.

When the team returned to the practice court for a session on Wednesday, they were shorthanded. As expected, the star guard James Harden wasn’t a participant as he continues to recover from a tendon strain that he suffered earlier this month.

In addition to Harden, the Sixers missed two more players on Wednesday as Furkan Korkmaz, and Matisse Thybulle are nursing setbacks of their own.

For Korkmaz, he injured his knee during last Saturday’s matchup against the Atlanta Hawks. After leaving the game in the first half, Korkmaz didn’t return and was ruled out for last Sunday’s matchup against the Utah Jazz.

As for Thybulle, he tweaked his ankle during Sunday’s win over the Jazz. Although the defensive standout returned to the court after going back to the locker room to get checked out during the Jazz matchup, Thybulle’s ankle has kept him off the floor lately. 

On Wednesday, Rivers revealed that Korkmaz and Thybulle weren’t participants. When the team participated in another practice session on Thursday, the situation was the same. 

The Sixers are set to resume their schedule on Friday night with a matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks. As Doc Rivers suspected, Korkmaz will miss Friday’s game due to a knee effusion.

Fortunately for Thybulle, he was left off the injury report. Therefore, he’s on pace to play in Friday’s matchup against Milwaukee. 

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.