January 06, 2026
Bill Streicher/Imagn Images
Joel Embiid has had a mostly normal schedule of late. The Sixers hope it can be sustained.
Joel Embiid (left knee injury management; right ankle soreness) is questionable to play when the Sixers host the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night, according to the team's initial injury report for the game unveiled on Tuesday, which also lists Kelly Oubre Jr. and Trendon Watford as questionable to return from their long-term absences:
The Sixers have an injury report for tomorrow's game vs. Washington:
— Adam Aaronson (@SixersAdam) January 6, 2026
Joel Embiid – left knee injury management; right ankle soreness – QUESTIONABLE
Kelly Oubre Jr. – left knee sprain – QUESTIONABLE
Trendon Watford – left adductor strain – QUESTIONABLE
For the first several weeks of the season, Embiid was on a strict load management plan that included multiple days off in between appearances. In early December, Embiid logged two starts in a three-day span for the first time, and as the Sixers' schedule has compressed over the last week he has been cleared for considerably more action. Embiid has played every other day for a week; if he suits up against the Wizards it will be his fifth game in nine days.
During the four games he played over the last seven days, Embiid has averaged 36.5 minutes per game, including a season-high 40 minutes in the team's overtime loss to the Denver Nuggets on Monday. Embiid said after the game that, while he did not expect his minutes total to get that high and made a remark about how long it had been since he reached that number, he felt "pretty good."
Meanwhile, Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said after Kelly Oubre Jr. and Trendon Watford participated in an intense scrimmage with assistant coaches after Monday's morning shootaround that both rotation forwards would be cleared to play "any day." That day seems to have come. Oubre has been sidelined since he sprained the LCL in his left knee on Nov. 14, while Watford went down with a left adductor strain on Nov. 25.
MORE: How will Oubre and Watford's returns impact rotation?
