Karl Anthony-Towns Cleared to Play vs. Sixers

The Philadelphia 76ers return to the court on Saturday night after partaking in a six-game road trip. They'll host the Minnesota Timberwolves for the first time this season. Lately, the Sixers have had a bad trend of playing while shorthanded as several key players have been in and out of the lineup.

And their Saturday night opponent nearly had a similar issue. As Minnesota is set to play the Sixers on the second night of a back-to-back, their starting center Karl Anthony-Towns was added to the injury report on Saturday afternoon.

According to the Timberwolves' injury report, Anthony-Towns was diagnosed with a right index finger sprain. Per Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic, Anthony-Towns' sprain is on his shooting hand, which makes his situation more difficult to deal with.

However, Towns went through pregame warmups and has been cleared for action on Saturday night. On the Sixers' end, they'll also get a couple of key players back in the mix as well. Leading up to the matchup, Sixers star center Joel Embiid was listed as questionable. 

Embiid has been away from the team for the last nine games as he was positive for COVID-19. Earlier this week, Embiid was cleared to start ramping up action at the Sixers' practice facility, but the earliest he planned to return was on Saturday. Fortunately for the 76ers, Embiid will be back in the mix to face Towns. 

In addition to Embiid, the Sixers will also get Tobias Harris back in the lineup. After missing the last two games due to hip soreness, Harris went through pregame warmups on Saturday and felt good enough to get clearance from the team. Now, the Sixers will trot out a lineup of Embiid, Harris, Matisse Thybulle, Seth Curry, and Tyrese Maxey to face Anthony-Towns and the Wolves.

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