Philadelphia 76ers coach Nick Nurse on Wednesday provided injury update on reigning NBA MVP Joel Embiid.
Nurse said that there is a “good likelihood” that Embiid will be back in action before the postseason.
“I think there’s a very good likelihood that he will return before the playoffs,” Nurse said before the Sixers took on the Los Angeles Clippers.
Embiid has been on the sidelines for 27 games after suffering a meniscus injury at Golden State in January earlier this year. His injury also led to a surgery on February 6. Embiid averaged 35.3 points and 11.5 rebounds this season.
Embiid started on-court work two weeks ago but there is still no certainty over the progress he has made.
“He’s on the court, as you guys know, but we still don’t have a timeline,” Nurse said, adding that he has not met him in person recently because of Philadelphia’s four-game West Coast trip.
“I would imagine that he’s getting better each day. He’s trying to get strong, confident, in shape and ramped up.”
When questioned about the nature of Embiid’s on-court activities if it included scrimmages against the Sixers’ G-League team, Nurse said only that Embiid was “on the court” and “we’ll let you know when we get there” with a possible return date.
Philadelphia, who are currently in eighth place in the Eastern Conference race, have to play nine more games in the regular season after Wednesday.