To no one’s surprise, Joel Embiid won’t take part in the finale of the Sixers’ five-game road trip.
The Sixers ruled Embiid out for their game Thursday night against the Jazz with a left knee injury.
He’ll “receive further evaluation over the next 24 hours,” a team official said. The Sixers offered no details beyond that on Embiid’s status, saying further updates would be provided as appropriate.
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The reigning MVP exited the Sixers’ loss Tuesday night to the Warriors with 4:04 left in the fourth quarter after Jonathan Kuminga fell on his left knee while pursuing a loose ball.
Embiid, who’d missed the past two games with left knee soreness, had generally not moved well or comfortably prior to that play. In 30 minutes, he scored 14 points on 5-for-18 shooting and committed eight turnovers.
“Obviously medical cleared him,” Sixers head coach Nick Nurse told reporters. “Joel is a big part of that. He said he was feeling good. He said he was a little rusty — hadn’t been on the court for five days — but he said he felt good.”
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Nurse said Embiid would get an MRI on Tuesday night or Wednesday.
The Sixers have won just three of the 12 games Embiid’s sat out thus far. They’ve slipped to fifth in the Eastern Conference standings and will try to avoid a winless road trip by beating Utah.
Along with Embiid, the Sixers will be down De'Anthony Melton (lumbar spine stress response) and Robert Covington (left knee bone bruise).
The team listed Tyrese Maxey (left ankle sprain) and Nicolas Batum (left hamstring injury) as questionable and Marcus Morris Sr. (left foot plantar fasciitis) as doubtful. All three players were out Tuesday, which led to Danuel House Sr. starting for the first time this season and KJ Martin, Jaden Springer and Furkan Korkmaz each playing over 20 minutes off the bench.
Springer (10 points on 4-for-7 shooting, five rebounds, four steals) and Korkmaz (19 points, 5 for 6 from three-point range, three assists) both had strong games against Golden State.