{"id":728464,"date":"2026-05-08T00:09:59","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T00:09:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/728464\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T00:09:59","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T00:09:59","slug":"76ers-joel-embiid-questionable-for-game-3-vs-knicks-due-to-ankle-sprain-hip-soreness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/728464\/","title":{"rendered":"76ers’ Joel Embiid ‘questionable’ for Game 3 vs. Knicks due to ankle sprain, hip soreness"},"content":{"rendered":"

After delivering a herculean effort on the road to bounce the Boston Celtics<\/a> and complete the franchise\u2019s first-ever 3-1 playoff comeback, Joel Embiid implored Philadelphia 76ers fans to not sell their Eastern Conference semifinals tickets<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Sixers\u2019 standout big man didn\u2019t want a repeat of their first-round playoff series versus the New York Knicks<\/a> two seasons ago, in which the Knicks advanced in six games while Philadelphia<\/a>\u2019s then-Wells Fargo Center became an extension of New York\u2019s Madison Square Garden.<\/p>\n

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Regardless of what kind of home-court advantage the Sixers have at what\u2019s now Xfinity Mobile Arena on Friday night, Embiid might not be able to play in front of the crowd in attendance, as he\u2019s officially \u201cquestionable\u201d for Game 3.<\/p>\n

Embiid is still listed with hip and ankle injuries<\/a>, which kept him out of a gut-wrenching Game 2 defeat in New York that concluded a back-and-forth affair in MSG<\/a>. The Sixers now trail the Knicks 2-0 in the series.<\/p>\n

More specifically, the often-injured seven-time All-Star is dealing with a right ankle sprain and right hip soreness<\/a>, per the Sixers\u2019 initial Game 3 injury report, which was revealed Thursday.<\/p>\n

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Notably, Knicks forward OG Anunoby is also considered questionable.<\/a> He\u2019s nursing a hamstring strain in his right leg. Anunoby, one of the hottest shooters in this year\u2019s postseason, sustained the injury in the fourth quarter of Game 2.<\/p>\n

Knicks wing Josh Hart<\/a> is questionable, too. He\u2019s listed with a left thumb sprain.<\/p>\n

As for Embiid, the 32-year-old one-time NBA MVP returned from an emergency appendectomy<\/a> to help the Sixers stage their historic turnaround against the rival Celtics.<\/p>\n

Two weeks and change after Embiid\u2019s late-season operation, he made his first appearance in the Celtics series<\/a>. Appendicitis was the latest issue he\u2019s dealt with in a season, and a career, full of setbacks.<\/p>\n

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Embiid appeared in fewer than 40 regular-season games for the third campaign in a row. He missed 13 games with an oblique strain in March<\/a>. Embiid also missed five consecutive games in February with a sore right knee and shin issue<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After playing in just 19 games last season because of lingering left-knee issues that ultimately resulted in him going under the knife in April 2025<\/a>, Embiid found himself sidelined again for a significant stretch early this season, that time due to a right knee injury<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He took a beating in the Celtics series, particularly in Game 7 during his 34-point, 12-rebound closeout performance in TD Garden.<\/p>\n

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Embiid came into Game 1 of the Knicks series with a right hip contusion. He played, but, like the rest of the Sixers\u2019 starters, sat down the stretch of a blowout loss. Going into Game 2, he was \u201cprobable\u201d with a right ankle sprain designation, except he was ruled out hours before tip-off, with right hip soreness being added to his listing, as reported by PhillyVoice<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Leading up to Game 2, Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said Embiid\u2019s status can be characterized as \u201cday-to-day.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After delivering a herculean effort on the road to bounce the Boston Celtics and complete the franchise\u2019s first-ever…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":728465,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3769],"tags":[679,6543,7,75,10536,936,327,6,191,741,678,207,3817],"class_list":["post-728464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia-76ers","tag-76ers","tag-ankle-injuries","tag-basketball","tag-boston-celtics","tag-hip-soreness","tag-joel-embiid","tag-josh-hart","tag-nba","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-og-anunoby","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-76ers","tag-philadelphia76ers"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116536057810125285","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=728464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728464\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/728465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=728464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=728464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=728464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}