Sixers Receive Disheartening Joel Embiid Confirmation Before Play-In Tournament

Joel Embiid has missed at least one game in five of his seven postseason runs, inadvertently creating a disadvantage for the Sixers. That number will officially increase two days ahead of Philadelphia's play-in tournament matchup against the Orlando Magic.

Shams Charania of ESPN announced that Embiid is expected to be out for the play-in tournament. The Sixers will face the Magic on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., Eastern time, deprived of their second-leading scorers. Embiid’s absence prompts more questions than answers for Philadelphia.

“He’s not expected to play during the Play-In Tournament,” Charania said on Monday's NBA Today. “My understanding is he's in the very early stages of his recovery process from appendicitis. He has to recover first, then there will be a separate physical part of the rehab as well.”

Embiid will miss his fourth straight game after undergoing an appendectomy on April 9. He was diagnosed with appendicitis before the Sixers’ 113-102 loss to the Houston Rockets on the same day. Philadelphia went 2-1 in its last three games but could not dodge the play-in.

The Sixers will now attempt to secure the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference without Embiid. This forces Philadelphia to start either Andre Drummond or Adem Bona against the Magic, neither of whom are viable options in the postseason.

Sixers facing an uphill battle

Orlando ranks first in the NBA in free-throw attempts per game with 27.5. That could be detrimental against the Sixers, as Drummond struggles to defend in space while Bona is overaggressive defensively. The Sixers can be more switch-heavy with Bona but lose size sans Drummond and vice versa.

It's worth noting that Drummond started in the second half of Philadelphia's 126-106 win against the Milwaukee Bucks on April 12 after Bona started the first 24 minutes. Drummond is more polished offensively with 6.3 points on 34.5% shooting from three-point range and 1.2 assists.

The Sixers won two of their three meetings versus the Magic, which was the seeding tiebreaker. Philadelphia played two of those games without Embiid, with Drummond and Bona each starting in one of them. Nurse has typically favored veteran players, but Philadelphia’s starting five remains a mystery.

It’s difficult to confidently pick the Sixers to win a postseason game without Embiid, regardless of whether he is in his prime. This amplifies the importance of Philadelphia maintaining the seventh seed as Embiid continues to recover.

“We’ve played them a couple of times this year,” Drummond said after the Sixers’ win over Milwaukee. “They had our number. I think we're in a different position now. The attention to detail is there. We know what's at stake. I think we're prepared for what's to come.”