Joel Embiid will travel on the Sixers’ road trip, but his return timeline is still to be determined

Joel Embiid will travel with the 76ers on their road trip to play the Cleveland Cavaliers and Toronto Raptors, coach Nick Nurse said Thursday, a potentially positive step in the superstar big man’s continued recovery from left knee surgery.

Embiid, who underwent a meniscus procedure on Feb. 6, will be on the trip to continue his workout regimen, Nurse said. The NBA’s reigning Most Valuable Player has progressed to on-court activities, including participation in Thursday’s light practice before the team departed for Cleveland. During that session, Nurse said, Embiid went through skill work “against other players.”

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The coach, though, still does not have a timeline for Embiid’s return, echoing his comments Wednesday before the loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.

“I’d love to give you one,” Nurse said Thursday. “I would love to not have to continue this [reiterating the same answer]. That means he’s back playing. I think that it’s coming, but I also understand that I see some growth here and I think this [stretch playing without him] is helping us.

“Listen, I want to put the best players we’ve got on the floor — no doubt about it. Give ourselves the best chance to win. But I’m ready to go to the drawing board and to battle with the guys here, to continue to polish and improve this group.”

Before this trip, Embiid had stayed in Philly whenever the Sixers traveled during this road-heavy portion of the schedule. When asked about that approach, Nurse recently cited the more abundant resources available at the Sixers’ practice facility, and said that several staff members also had remained in town to work with the also-rehabbing De’Anthony Melton (spine) and Robert Covington (knee). Melton and Covington did not partake in practice Thursday, Nurse said.

Embiid was putting together another MVP-caliber season before his injury, averaging a league-best 35.3 points to go along with 11.3 rebounds, a career-high 5.7 assists, and 1.8 blocks. The Sixers have struggled mightily without Embiid, going 10-21 since Jan. 22 to tumble from third place in the Eastern Conference standings to eighth with nine regular-season games to play.

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Teammates, though, also appear encouraged by Embiid’s progression. Backup center Paul Reed said Thursday after practice that, “from what I can see, it looks like [Embiid is] coming back pretty soon,” adding that getting the All-Star comfortable is the top team-wide priority down the stretch.

And Reed will welcome Embiid’s presence on the road.

“It can provide a huge lift,” Reed said. “[Embiid has] been our leader and our main guy all season long. I’m pretty sure that everybody is going to feed off [him].”

A day after a heated Nurse charged the court to scream at officials following a controversial no-call in the final seconds of Wednesday’s 108-107 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, the Sixers coach said he will “try to do better” and that he has “always had good relationships” with the crew of Kevin Scott, JB DeRosa, and Brandon Adair.

“It’s super hard to be out there doing it,” Nurse said of officiating the tight (and controversial) finish. “It was a really tough game. Lots of intensity. Lots of emotion. I think I am going to fight for my team when I think I need to. There’s no doubt about that.

“Do I probably need to do that in a different manner than I did last night? Yeah, of course. I don’t want to do that after the game.”

Nurse, though, had a right to be upset. Scott acknowledged after the game that Paul George should have been called for a foul on Kelly Oubre Jr.’s late shot attempt, which Kawhi Leonard blocked just before the buzzer.

“On the floor in real time to the crew, the crew interpreted that play as the defender jumping vertically,” Scott said. “However, in postgame video review, we did observe some slight drift to his left by the defender, George, and a foul should have been ruled.”

Oubre also apologized following the game for his behavior, after he came up behind Nurse to yell obscenities while pointing at the officials.