Joel Embiid is out tonight.
The Philadelphia 76ers will continue their homestand on Friday night against the Denver Nuggets. Nikola Jokic and company are eager to snap a three-game losing streak while the Sixers will look to increase their winning streak to five. Unfortunately, they will continue to be shorthanded. Joel Embiid will not play tonight.
Joel Embiid ruled out for 76ers’ matchup vs. Nuggets
Embiid has been ruled out due to left knee injury management. It will be his 14th straight absence, which has been caused by both troubles with his knee and, before that, a left foot sprain. Although he was seen getting shots up before games, he remains sidelined.
Joel Embiid just wrapped up an extremely lengthy warm-up session. He was literally getting shots up until the Sixers came out for layup lines pic.twitter.com/dixcHY2Vim
— Josh Grieb (@JGrieb10) January 30, 2025
Embiid missed the 76ers’ game against the Nuggets in Denver last week, sparking a new round of disingenuous speculation that he’s afraid to play against Jokic in Denver. Just like some of the other times he has been unavailable to play there, the Sixers’ game in the Mile High City happened to overlap with an injury that caused him to miss multiple games in a row. Other injury concerns have prevented Embiid from playing in Denver over the last five seasons.
In the instances when he has been healthy enough to play against his primary MVP contender from the past few years, Embiid has dominated the matchup against Jokic. The Nuggets’ superstar has certainly given the 76ers’ superstar some great fights but Embiid has come out on top in their latest showdowns. Unfortunately, unless each team somehow makes it to the NBA Finals, the best two bigs in basketball won’t face each other again until next season.
Also out for the 76ers are Paul George (left finger extensor tendon injury), Caleb Martin (right hip sprain), KJ Martin (left foot stress reaction), Andre Drummond (left toe injury recovery) and Jared McCain (left knee meniscus surgery).
For the Nuggets, DaRon Holmes II (right Achilles tendon repair) and Vlatko Cancar (left knee surgery rehabilitation) are out.