Embiid listed as doubtful for weekend games against Wizards, Knicks

Brandon Apter, Sports Talk Philly editor  

The Philadelphia 76ers returned to practice today for the first time since the All-Star break. The biggest stories leading into the practice were Joel Embiid's status, Ben Simmons' CT scan scheduled for Thursday, and the trade deadline. All of those topics were addressed, but we'll start with Embiid. He was a full participant in practice, but has officially been listed as doubtful for both Friday and Saturday's games. Ben Simmons did some individual workouts and will get more info on his injury tomorrow.

Practice update (cont.):
•Embiid participated fully in practice. Listed as doubtful for both games this weekend.

— Philadelphia 76ers (@Sixers) February 22, 2017

Embiid's status remains somewhat of a mystery. Normally a bone bruise takes between 2-3 weeks to heal and we are nearing five weeks since he suffered the injury against Portland on January 20. The Sixers will make a more definite decision tomorrow, when they see how Embiid's knee reacts to today's practice.

"I want to play, but those guys no what they're doing and you just gotta trust the process," Embiid said following practice. "We just have keep monitoring it [the knee]. Tomorrow's going to be a big day, we're going to go hard at practice."

Joel hopes to be upgraded tomorrow after practice.

Embiid and Dario Saric had a pretty entertaining one-on-one match-up at the end of practice, with Joel saying "you can't expletive guard me" on multiple occasions. Joel joked with the media that beating Dario Saric everyday at practice motivates him, Saric is not a fan of his trash talking and that Dario losing to him every day should motivate him to get better. 

#Sixers' Joel Embiid and Dario Saric go one-on-one after practice. pic.twitter.com/4mXeaIXeU0

— Keith Pompey (@PompeyOnSixers) February 22, 2017

In terms of the upcoming trade deadline, Embiid also joked about hoping he is still here in 26 hours and mentioned that anything can happen, but he loves his teammates and hopes they stay together.

The Sixers play their first game after the break on Friday night at home against the Washington Wizards.