PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia 76ers will go to battle on Thursday against the Atlanta Hawks without the services of Joel Embiid. The Sixers announced that the big fella suffered some right shin soreness while going through a workout for his right knee issue and decided to hold him out against a pesky Hawks team.
The Sixers do begin a 3-game road trip on Saturday with a back-to-back over the weekend against the New Orleans Pelicans and the Minnesota Timberwolves before finishing against the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday. Before the team boards the plane and heads to the bayou, the Sixers will work Embiid out in an effort to make a decision on what comes next for him.
"The doctors don’t want him playing tonight," said coach Nick Nurse. "I think the plan is to get him on the court tomorrow and see how he looks tomorrow and I think we just go from there. I don’t anticipate it being a long time. I’m pretty optimistic about it. Just see what they come up with and see where it ends up tomorrow."
Nurse was then asked about whether Embiid's knee problems are fixed and the reason why he's out is more so based on the fact that his shin is beginning to really bother him.
"I think so," he said. "I'm not 100% sure on that, but I think so."
It remains to be seen what Embiid's status will be in the near future. One has to wonder if the shin will be a thing that bothers the big fella long term.
This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: 76ers injury news: Nick Nurse provides latest on sidelined Joel Embiid