76ers Upgrade Joel Embiid’s Injury Status vs. Pistons

Joel Embiid could make his return to play the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday night. According to the Philadelphia 76ers’ injury report, the big man has been listed as questionable for the Tuesday night rematch between the Sixers and the Pistons.

For the last few games, Embiid hasn’t been cleared for action. As the center’s been battling foot soreness, Embiid’s been prioritizing rest to ensure he doesn’t deal with any significant setbacks so early on in the season.

Embiid’s foot soreness started after a fall against the New Orleans Pelicans last Monday. Although the star center finished the matchup after clearly dealing with pain in the second half of the victory, Embiid was downgraded to questionable ahead of the Sixers’ Wednesday night matchup against the Indiana Pacers.

Eventually, Embiid was ruled out against the Pacers. After the Sixers took down Indiana, the Sixers wasted no time ruling Embiid out for the Friday night matchup against the Chicago Bulls. The same went for Philadelphia’s road matchup against the Detroit Pistons on Sunday.

Before Sunday’s matchup against the Pistons, Sixers head coach Doc Rivers addressed the state of the injured big man. According to Ky Carlin of Sixers Wire, Rivers mentioned that Embiid’s been working out, but the team doesn’t want to rush him back out onto the floor.

“Yeah, he’s working out,” Rivers added. “He worked out on the floor yesterday (Saturday) and today back at home so he’s making progress.” … “I have no idea, honestly,” stated Rivers. “I really don’t and I don’t focus. I think you know that by now. I’m trying to get through tonight’s game and then we worry about the rest after that.” … “This is like, to me, not with this,” the coach finished. “This is not an injury where you’re out for three months or anything like that and Jo, fortunately, hasn’t had a lot of that so no, not in this case. I think it’s tough on Joel, it’s tough on the team as well, but right now it’s our whole league.”

If Embiid indeed misses his fourth-straight game, it would mark the 12th absence for the star center this season. Considering the Sixers found success over the Pistons without Embiid on Sunday, the team would likely feel comfortable going into the matchup with PJ Tucker, Montrezl Harrell, and Paul Reed, taking over at the center position.

However, if Embiid’s feeling much better than he did over the weekend, the Sixers should trot the big man back onto the floor so the starting five can continue to build chemistry after missing so much time together as a unit earlier in the year.

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