Update, 8:27 p.m.: The Sixers announced that Joel Embiid is managing swelling in his left knee, which is why he did not play vs. the Brooklyn Nets Friday. He will also miss Sunday’s game vs. the LA Clippers before being re-evaluated next week.

Update: 6:30 p.m.: The Sixers have officially ruled out Joel Embiid for Friday’s game against the Brooklyn Nets.

While Nick Nurse said in his pregame availability that Embiid would go through his pre-game warmup before deciding, the usual routine, Embiid never came out on the floor to warm-up.

So the year from hell continues as the Sixers are back down to one of their Big 3, with Tyrese Maxey still on a minutes restriction. Nurse did mention that he won’t be as restricted as Wednesday night in Memphis. With 68 games left to go, there is no relief in sight for this squad.

The Philadelphia 76ers are now 2-12 on the season, officially the worst record in the entire National Basketball Association. The latest tire on the dumpster fire was the team’s 117-111 loss in Memphis on Wednesday night. However, one of the few bright spots from that defeat was Joel Embiid approaching looking like his old self, tallying a season-high 35 points and 11 rebounds. Maybe a new 30-10 streak, the greatest achievement in modern sports, was in the works! At least heading into Friday’s game against Brooklyn, it was a sign things could get turned around.

To recap, the Sixers did not have a game Wednesday night, and do not have a game tomorrow night, yet Joel Embiid is questionable due to injury management on that left knee. We expected, and even lauded, this sort of thing for back-to-backs this season, but for the issue to be cropping up for an isolated game is extremely worrying. If playing a season-high 35 minutes in Memphis was too taxing on Joel’s knee, how can you be confident he’ll ever be back to his old self?

Embiid was present at shootaround this morning, but not did participate, so at least the time, if not injury, management is on an uptick.

Paul George is out for at least the next two games with that left knee bone bruise. Embiid may now be unavailable as well. What originally looked like a potential get-right game against the 6-9 Nets appears increasingly fraught. After the optimism of two months ago, both the short-term and long-term outlooks for this Sixers franchise are now getting more perilous by the day.