'I'm able to trust myself even more.': Joel Embiid is Believing in His Progress

PHILADELPHIA — You can hear a pin drop when Joel Embiid is asked about the latest beating his body has taken on the basketball court.

No, it’s not out of failure to answer the question.

It’s due to Embiid lowering his voice, practically to a whisper, as he explains why he departed Tuesday’s loss against the Brooklyn Nets early in the third quarter.

Is it a deliberate effort to avoid giving his critics new material?

Or is it a subconscious attempt to avoid going down the road on thoughts he’d rather not unpack?

Only he knows.

"Just hyperextended it. Went to the locker room, then they checked it out. We'll see how it feels," Embiid told reporters after the loss.

As we've come to learn, the days that follow the impact are paramount. In the moment, when the adrenaline is coursing through the body, it's difficult to judge whether damage has been done.

"It's alright, we'll see how it feels tomorrow," he offered.

Embiid requested a substitution as soon as he got to his feet after the hyperextension. He limped to the locker room. The building was silent. He emerged after nine minutes of real time, waddling to the bench in his uniform and a pair of enormous ice packs wrapped around both knees.

He was good enough to return. Given the level of precaution the Sixers have used with Embiid's knees this season, a in-game return from a right knee hyperextension might be considered aggressive in its own right.

The return wasn't the only encouraging sign.

Embiid made several leaping contests outside of the paint in the loss to Brooklyn. He jumped to contest a Terance Mann mid-range jumper. Embiid dashed out to the perimeter to contest a bunch of threes, going airborn and landing on the right leg before and after the hyperextension.

That has to come with a level of trust, something Embiid has slowly rediscovered this season after never finding it last season. It's something he wasn't doing in October and November.

The jumping contests don't just represent trust that his body will not fail him. They represent a level of acceptance that his body is feeling better. That he's making progress and moving better.

"Feels good. I'm starting to feel better obviously. Not totally able to heal my body from whatever is going around. But I feel like, body wise, some of the main issues coming into the season, my body feels pretty good. I'm moving much better. Offensively and defensively, I'm able to trust myself even more," he said.

Saying it is one thing. It is another thing when you are doing things on the basketball court that reflect a mind that is not warring with itself.

"So I think now the next step is just being consistent, as far as getting game action, and I'll be back to myself," Embiid added.

The two biggest things that will swing Philadelphia's ceiling for this season are what that consistency looks like and what "get back to myself" means.

Only time will tell.

Embiid was listed as 'questionable' on the initial injury report for Friday's road game against the Chicago Bulls with right knee injury management. That is a designation that has been used for Embiid's status time and time again this season, a hint that perhaps the hyperextension didn't have any lasting effects on his bothersome knee.

VJ Edgecombe, Dominick Barlow and Quentin Grimes are 'questionable' with an illness.

Kelly Oubre Jr. (sprained left knee) and Trendon Watford (strained left adductor) remain out. Both took the court for individual pregame workouts on Tuesday. Their timelines are unknown.

As for the Bulls, Noa Essengue is out after undergoing surgery on his left shoulder. Trentyn Flowers, Emanuel Miller and Lachlan Olbrich are on two-way G-League assignments and will be out.