Philadelphia 76ers superstar Joel Embiid made his preseason debut on Friday against the Minnesota Timberwolves and finished with 14 points, eight assists, seven rebounds and three steals in 18 minutes of play. Embiid shot 5 of 10 from the floor and exited the game with 6:13 remaining in the third quarter.
Embiid had been ramping up his work in practice and got to a point where he could finally see some live game action before the regular season starts against the Boston Celtics on Wednesday. With Embiid making his preseason debut less than a week before the opener, it’s a good sign for his availability for the start of the season.
The 76ers have dealt with significant injuries, primarily with Embiid, in each of the last few years. Embiid’s played just a total of 58 games in the last two seasons due to lower extremity injuries, mainly to his knees. His limited availability has handicapped the Sixers from building any sort of meaningful momentum in the regular season.
Couple that with the fact that Paul George is also sidelined and isn’t expected to suit up for the season opener, and you have a Sixers team that continues to fall short of expectations because of injuries.
Embiid’s return, though, was a sliver of good news for Philadelphia, and the hope is that he can be available enough for the Sixers to take advantage of a wide open Eastern Conference race. Embiid said at the team media day that he felt “pretty good” in the lead up from the surgery, so hopefully that means we’ll see him on the court more often than not this season.
“The goal is to play consistently and not be in the position we were last year,” Embiid said. “Everybody that knows me knows I want to play. I want to play every single game. I’ve been pretty unlucky when it comes to that compared to most NBA players.”
If healthy, the Sixers should be considered part of that top tier of teams in the East, along with the Knicks and the Cavaliers. They have a ton of depth at their disposal and a trio of versatile stars in Embiid, George and Tyrese Maxey. But the issue has always been about having them all out there together. Getting Embiid back is the first step, and hopefully George isn’t too far behind so the Sixers can see what they have with this trio going forward.