Nick Nurse ‘pretty confident’ Joel Embiid will return to Sixers before end of season

Nick Nurse remains “pretty confident” that Joel Embiid will return from knee surgery before the end of the season, he said prior to Saturday’s 76ers game against the Charlotte Hornets, though details from the team about his recovery progress remain vague.

”It’s tricky, right?” Nurse said. “I think there’s always stages of how these things progress. I mean, everybody wants to know, like, ‘Well how long is it going to be?’ And they give a pretty wide range of that, because everybody heals differently. There’s things that go smoothly. There’s things that set back. There’s all kinds of stuff like that.

”We’re just trying to take it as it comes. Get him healthy. Get him really healthy. Get him back when he’s ready to go.”

Nurse’s public optimism echoes Embiid’s comments from Feb. 29, when the reigning NBA Most Valuable Player said he hoped to be back sometime this season.

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When the Sixers announced on Feb. 6 that Embiid had undergone a meniscus procedure, the news release included that he would be re-evaluated in approximately four weeks. Reaching that time frame has prompted questions to Nurse in recent days about Embiid’s status.

Nurse said Saturday that Embiid visited a doctor last week, and that “they’re happy with the progress.” The coach added he has not yet seen any of Embiid’s reported on-court work, because the Sixers were on the road from March 10 through Thursday.

Embiid was having another MVP-caliber season before his injury, leading the league in scoring (35.3 points per game) while adding 11.3 rebounds, a career-best 5.7 assists and 1.8 blocks in 34 games. The Sixers have stumbled without their best player, entering Saturday with a 10-22 record when Embiid does not play while slipping from third place to eighth in the Eastern Conference standings.