Will Joel Embiid Be Available Against New Orleans Pelicans?

When the Sixers (26-21) host the New Orleans Pelicans (13-37) on Saturday night, they will likely do so with their full compliment of rotation players.

Joel Embiid is not listed on the injury report for the 7:30 p.m., Eastern time, tip-off in Philadelphia.

There has only been one instance this season in which Embiid has been absent from the injury report and scratched out the day of a game, and that occurred back in November against the Boston Celtics.

Paul George is not listed on the injury report, either.

Quentin Grimes is 'probable' to return from a sprained right ankle. He's missed two games with the injury thus far. He was 'questionable' for Thursday's win over the Sacramento Kings and ultimately ruled out about an hour before tip-off.

Should Grimes be deemed available to play on Saturday, it poses a good complication for Nick Nurse.

Jared McCain had a blazing fourth quarter in Monday's blowout at the hands of the Charlotte Hornets. It carried over to Tuesday, the first game that Grimes missed with the ankle injury. McCain hit a barrage of threes to take out the Milwaukee Bucks early in the fourth quarter. It capped a back-to-back in which the second-year guard netted 33 points.

McCain had a rude return to earth in the game against the Kings. But, as we've chronicled in other writings, neither Grimes nor McCain have played close to well enough to separate themselves in the battle for minutes in the regular rotaiton. They should be living spark to spark.

When Nurse was asked about the dilemma ahead of the Kings game, he was not ready to discuss the conundrum until Grimes was ruled in. Since that didn't happen, he has some more time to ponder what comes next. But it is something he'll have to figure out. To complicate matters further, the trade deadline is less than a week away and no one on the team except Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey has the stature to be considered untouchable in any trade conversations.

What isn't so complicated is that the Pelicans are horrendous. They will be on the second night of a back-to-back. There should be some juice in the building, as Saturday is the reunion game celebrating the 25th anniversary of the 2000-01 team that made the NBA Finals.

The Sixers should be able to find it within themselves to not sleep-walk through this game, something they've done twice this week.