NBA investigating Joel Embiid’s absence from 76ers: Sources

The NBA formally launched an investigation into Philadelphia 76ers superstar Joel Embiid’s absence from the team’s season-opening loss to Milwaukee, multiple league sources said Thursday.

Embiid not only was out of uniform for the Sixers’ 124-109 loss to the Bucks on Wednesday, but also has been ruled out for the team’s next two games even though he is neither injured, ill, nor tending to a personal matter.

The NBA’s player participation policy requires healthy players be available to play, and the policy further requires stars to be available for nationally televised games. So Embiid’s absence Wednesday would appear to be a double violation, as the game was on ESPN and the Sixers’ coach said publicly that Embiid was not hurt.

“The plan is why he’s not playing,” Sixers coach Nick Nurse said before the game. “He did not re-injure himself, but the plan is we don’t feel he’s quite ready, strong enough, light enough, whatever it is. They’ve determined he’s not quite ready to go. Hasn’t been in any full-court scrimmages, etc. And that’s the plan.”

Embiid underwent knee surgery last winter, but it would be difficult to cite it as an excuse for not playing now — given that Embiid returned before the playoffs last season and then started at center for Team USA en route to a gold medal at the Paris Olympics.

How the league navigates the team’s claim that Embiid is not yet in sufficient shape to play, which seems to be the Sixers’ line, remains to be seen.

Philadelphia and Embiid have said their main priority is to have Embiid healthy for the 2025 playoffs, a goal that has largely been elusive for them in past seasons. Embiid often enters the postseason battling multiple nagging or perhaps serious injuries. He appeared in just 39 games for the Sixers last season.

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