As the Philadelphia 76ers prepared for the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night, they knew they would be without the services of the seven-time All-Star center Joel Embiid.

The absence on Wednesday marked the third game in a row Embiid had the night off. While the Sixers’ injury report cites “injury management” as the reason behind his absence, the big man has been dealing with swelling lately.

It’s unclear when Embiid will get a chance to return to the floor. When the Sixers held a practice session on Tuesday morning, Embiid was not a participant, according to team officials. As they’ve been doing all season, the Sixers are taking it day-by-day with Embiid, and they’ll continue to do so as the season progresses.

“He needs to play again and see how it reacts,” Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said on Wednesday. “That’s kind of where we’re at right now.”

As frustrating as the process has been through the first stretch of the 2024-2025 NBA season, Nurse continues to reiterate that even the tough stretches of absences were factored into the initial plan.

“I think we knew there’d be some moments and times where it’s going to take a little longer,” Nurse added. “We’re hoping that those times in between playing get less and less as we go here as he gets a little stronger there.”

Embiid missed the entire preseason. When the Sixers opened up the 2024-2025 NBA season on October 23 with a game against the Milwaukee Bucks at home, the big man was ruled out for the first week at minimum. Embiid ended up missing the first nine games of the season.

When he debuted against the New York Knicks on November 12, Embiid checked in for 26 minutes to score 13 points on 2-11 shooting from the field. He missed his tenth game of the season the following night.

Last week, Embiid managed to go through a three-game stretch for the first time this year. He averaged 22 points, nine rebounds, and three assists with 43 percent shooting in roughly 98 minutes of game action.

The good news is that Embiid started to look like his best self in his latest outing, scoring a 35-point double-double in 35 minutes. The bad news is that his longest shift yet came with a price to pay.

The Sixers will pay a visit to the Detroit Pistons on Saturday. The team hasn’t made a call on Embiid’s status for that game just yet.