Joel Embiid practices Sunday after twisting knee, but status for Sixers’ game against Washington still ‘TBD’

Joel Embiid was nearly a full participant in Sunday’s 76ers practice, although coach Nick Nurse said the reigning NBA Most Valuable Player’s status for Monday’s home game against the Washington Wizards is still to be determined after Embiid “twisted” his left knee late in Friday’s win over the Atlanta Hawks.

Nurse said the only part of practice Embiid missed was at the beginning when he went through some prep work in the weight room while teammates were doing on-court warmups. But the medical staff wanted to see how the injury responded following the session, Nurse added. As teammates left the court after practice, Embiid sat with personal trainer Drew Hanlen to study film.

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“He was out there and doing OK,” Nurse said of Embiid.

Embiid was clearly hobbled down the stretch Friday, at points directing star point guard Tyrese Maxey to take control of offensive possessions. Still, Embiid finished with 38 points, 14 rebounds, and 4 blocks, including one rejection of Hawks star Dejounte Murray in traffic under the basket after he sustained the injury.

Embiid entered Sunday leading the NBA in scoring at 33.3 points per game, and is also averaging 11.5 rebounds, a career-best 6.4 assists, and 1.9 blocks. He scored a season-high 50 points in Wednesday’s victory at Washington.

“We are going to talk about it and see how it feels,” Embiid said after Friday’s game. “But I don’t know. I should be fine.”

In the locker room following Friday’s win, Sixers reserve center Mo Bamba lamented to teammate De’Anthony Melton that the Sixers “should be in Vegas” instead of Philly.

That was a reference to the NBA’s In-Season Tournament, which held its semifinals and final in Sin City last week. The Los Angeles Lakers topped the Indiana Pacers in Saturday’s championship game, a matchup that largely accomplished the league’s goal to inject more interest into the early season by pegging arguably the sport’s most recognizable brand and star (LeBron James) against an upstart team and player (Tyrese Haliburton).

The Sixers did not advance out of group play, instead adding last week’s matchups at the Wizards and against the Hawks to the schedule to reach 82 regular-season games. Still, Nurse had been a proponent of the tournament since those designated games began last month, largely thanks to his experience with similar setups while coaching in England.

The coach watched the intensity go “up a notch — or three” as teams vied for spots in the knockout round, then as that single-elimination portion unfolded. And there were certainly talking points for observers, from the wild court designs to the $500,000 prize money for players.

“The things that matter a little bit more, there’s a little more heartache and a little more joy,” Nurse said. “That certainly was the case.”

Added Bamba: “I’m not going to say we don’t care about $500,000, but I think it’s just more so bragging rights. We’re all very competitive. Even when we do our little ‘stay-ready’ games [after practice, we are] playing like it’s Game 7. We’re just all uber competitors. It just adds another trophy to your resumé when it’s all said and done.”

Another wrinkle to those games was the importance of point differential, a tiebreaker when teams finished with the same record in the four-game group stage. Embiid leaned into that immediately by taking a three-pointer at the end of their first game against the Detroit Pistons, which drew criticism from the opposing side. Yet Nurse reiterated Sunday that he had no issue with teams playing until the final buzzer, under any circumstances.

“I’m not ever trying to embarrass anybody or run up a score on purpose,” Nurse said, “but I think the players that are out there should be playing each possession. On defense, you should be trying to get a stop. And when you’re on offense, you should be trying to get a bucket. …

“If we’re on the wrong end, we should do better. We should play it out. I think each possession has value for players, no matter who’s out there. Even the so-called garbage time, when guys are running up and down, those guys need to go out there and play, because that’s some opportunity for them.”

Jaden Springer recently went on a quick G League assignment to Wilmington, scoring 19 points on 7-of-14 shooting and adding four rebounds, two assists, and three steals Saturday in the Delaware Blue Coats’ 139-119 win over the Greensboro Swarm.

The timing made sense, Nurse said, because the Sixers were at home but did not have a game Saturday or Sunday. Springer had not played for the Sixers since Nov. 22 at the Minnesota Timberwolves, because he was the first to catch the illness that recently spread through the roster and then was squeezed out of the rotation.

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Nurse commended Springer’s diligence as a player who arrives early at the facility and stays late following practice. But that is still not a substitute for live competition for the third-year guard who has not yet gotten much NBA action, averaging 3.2 points and two rebounds in 11.5 minutes over 11 games.

Though Nurse said Springer “could get to the front of the rim just about any time he wanted to” at the G League level, he was instructed to work on his off-ball defense, three-point shot, and making reads with the ball in his hands.

“In one [NBA] game, you might get two chances to drive the ball,” Nurse said. “He can go down there and do it 25 times. It’s good. He needs the reps to go in there, make the read, make the pass, move it around. …

“I just think it’s really hard to get better if you’re not playing in some type of real game.”