The Philadelphia 76ers have been without Joel Embiid for the majority of the month after the All-Star break. Embiid missed the team’s first game after the All-Star break due to touch tracing after he and Ben Simmons’ barber both tested positive, and he then sustained a knee injury that was luckily not as serious as it seemed.
Despite this, the Sixers have been vigilant in ensuring he does not return too quickly, and he has been out for the past three weeks. On Wednesday, Shams Charania announced that Embiid would return to the court on Saturday night against the Timberwolves, barring any setbacks.
We’ll have to wait for official confirmation from Doc Rivers and the Sixers, and it’ll most likely be a “gametime decision” in the lead up. But it’s fantastic news that one of the MVP favorites prior to the injury is on his way back, and it couldn’t come at a better time for a Sixers team that had just lost back-to-back games to playoff contenders in the Clippers and Nuggets. Despite this, Ben Simmons and company have kept Philadelphia in a tie for first place in the Eastern Conference by going 6-3 without their star big man, with one more game against the Cavs to come before his return against Minnesota.
