Sixers’ Joel Embiid out with foot sprain, putting damper on anticipated Ben Simmons return

Joel Embiid will miss at least the next two 76ers games with a left mid-foot sprain, the team announced Monday afternoon.

Embiid’s absence is another blow to an injury-riddled Sixers team — and takes significant sizzle out of Tuesday’s highly anticipated matchup against the Brooklyn Nets in what is expected to be Ben Simmons’ first time playing in front of a Philly crowd since his holdout and trade last season. The Sixers then play at the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday, before wrapping a three-game road trip with consecutive outings against Orlando Magic on Friday and Sunday.

» READ MORE: Ben Simmons is prepared for emotionally charged — and hostile — Philly return: ‘I know what’s coming’

Embiid was hurt late in Saturday’s loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, when he tripped over fallen teammate Georges Niang while both players were running toward the basket. The All-Star center stayed in the game but said during his news conference more than an hour afterward that he was feeling pain. The team said Embiid would be reevaluated in the coming days.

“Whenever a big guy goes [down], my eyes always go to his knees first and then work my way down,” coach Doc Rivers said following Monday’s practice. “When I saw him grabbing his foot, I was already a little relieved, because I thought maybe [it was his] ankle.”

The Sixers are already without star guards James Harden (foot tendon strain) and Tyrese Maxey (foot fracture) for at least the next couple weeks. Starting forward Tobias Harris also missed the last two games with hip soreness, but he practiced Monday and is officially listed as probable to play Tuesday.

Backup swingman Furkan Korkmaz also has been out for the last three games with knee swelling, but on Monday was upgraded to probable to play against the Nets. Wing Matisse Thybulle, meanwhile, has been limited to nine total minutes the last two games because of a tweaked ankle, and guard De’Anthony Melton has been dealing with a back problem in recent days.

“Everybody’s going down right now,” Rivers said. “Right now, around here, if somebody goes down, you get really scared.”

Embiid, the MVP runner-up the last two seasons, is averaging 32.3 points, 10.1 rebounds, 4.6 assists, and 1.8 blocks in 12 games. He has already missed four games with the flu and to rest his knee, and came into the season lacking conditioning because of plantar fasciitis in the lead-up to training camp.

Without Embiid, the Sixers will be small at center with a combination of P.J. Tucker, Paul Reed, and Montrezl Harrell.

“We’ve just got to play,” Rivers said. “We’ve worked [Monday] on a lot of movement stuff offensively. … We’ll just figure it out and go at it.”

Maxey knows how a tweaked ankle feels. So when he heard a pop in his foot when he stepped on the foot of Milwaukee Bucks guard Jevon Carter on a drive during Friday’s second quarter, he anticipated something worse.

He was right, as an MRI revealed a small fracture that is expected to keep him sidelined for three-to-four weeks. Still, the positivity Maxey flashed in the locker room before the Sixers’ first game without him on Saturday remained intact following Monday’s practice.

“It’s life,” Maxey said while still holding a basketball. “It’s OK. It’s not the end of the world.”

Maxey’s inability to run or play basketball is new for the well-documented gym rat, who said this is his first significant injury since he was a freshman in high school. He expects to be in a walking boot for about a week, though his recovery will take a bit of a play-it-by-ear approach.

» READ MORE: Inside Sixers: Tyrese Maxey’s positivity post-injury, why Danuel House Jr. wears 25

To pass this newfound time, Maxey said he has been playing “a lot” of the Call of Duty video game and fending off his Cane Corso who still wants to jump on his human. Maxey has immediate and extended family in town for Thanksgiving, which he said is “really important right now.” He also still hosted a Turkey Drive in West Philly on Sunday, even after his parents asked if he would prefer to record a video message instead.

“It’s something that I already was committed to do, and I wanted to do it,” Maxey said. " … My biggest thing was I wanted them to be able to touch me and I wanted to be able to be accessible to them and show them that I really care, because it really means something to me.”

Though the Sixers will miss Maxey’s 22.9 points, 4.4 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game, he hopes he can still help teammates from the bench. During Saturday’s loss to Minnesota, for instance, Maxey said he shared tips with Melton about playing in the pick and roll with Embiid.

“I feel old or something, like a coach,” Maxey said. " … I just want to be able to support my teammates as much as I can. I know how much it means to someone who’s playing when guys [who] are out, that they’re supporting and that they’re still believing in you.”

Rivers on the absence of an Embiid-Simmons matchup Tuesday: “They’ll get their chance. It’ll happen at some point. But it still has to remain, at the end of the day, the 76ers want to beat the Nets — period. And maybe with [Simmons] on there, you want to beat them more. I don’t know that. If I was a player, that’s how I would feel. I unfortunately can’t play, and you don’t want to see that.”

It took almost two years but Ben Simmons will soon play at the Wells Fargo Center. This time, however, Simmons will be positioned alongside the Brooklyn Nets on Nov. 22 when they face the Sixers. The Inquirer’s Gina Mizell and Keith Pompey will broadcast live from the marquee game, discussing Simmons’ return and the Sixers’ injury issues.