Is Joel Embiid playing tonight? Latest injury update for 76ers vs. Thunder

At long last, reigning MVP and superstar center Joel Embiid appears to be on the verge of making his return to the court, and the timing couldn’t be much better for a Philadelphia 76ers team that has struggled to tread water without him.

The reeling 76ers (40-35) host the Western Conference No. 1 seed Oklahoma City Thunder (52-22) on Tuesday night, 7:30 p.m. ET, at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, PA. They hope to have Embiid back on the floor in this one to cap off what has been an extensive absence for the seven-time All-Star.

But will Embiid be active against the Thunder? 

Is Joel Embiid playing tonight? Latest 76ers injury update

UPDATE: Embiid was upgraded from "out" to "questionable" for the 76ers game on Tuesday.

ORIGINAL: Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN has reported that the return of Embiid is “imminent and could come as soon as Tuesday night,” but the big man is still listed as out, per the official injury report of the NBA. 

Woj adds that Embiid has been “ramping up his conditioning in recent days to rejoin the Eastern Conference playoff chase,” implying that the latter will return before the end of the regular season, which aligns with previous updates.

Embiid has been out since leaving late in the fourth quarter against the Golden State Warriors when Jonathan Kuminga landed on his leg when diving for a loose ball. He suffered a displaced flap in his left meniscus which required surgery and resulted in him missing the past 29 games for the Sixers. 

Philly begins a three-game road trip on Thursday. Embiid having the opportunity to return in front of his home crowd in his first game back from injury would help ease him into action. He needs to get up to speed ahead of the NBA Play-In Tournament/playoffs after missing roughly the past two months. But he was not seen at shootaround on Tuesday morning, according to ESPN’s Tim Bontemps, casting doubt over his status versus the Thunder.

The 76ers are 26-8 in games Embiid plays this season and 11-18 without him so his return to lineup bodes well for Philadelphia and makes them one of scariest No. 7/8 seeds (depending on play-in results) in recent memory if he is anywhere near full strength come playoff time. 

Embiid averaged a league-leading 35.3 points per game when he went down with the knee injury, adding 11.3 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 1.8 blocks, and 1.1 steals while shooting 53.3 percent from the field. 

However, unless his status on the injury report changes between now and tip-off on Tuesday night, his highly anticipated return will have to wait. Barring any changes, his next opportunity to return will be Apr. 4, when the Sixers travel to Miami to face the Heat.