At this point, if you’re a Philadelphia 76ers fan, it’s hard to know whether to laugh or cry at how ridiculously awful this season is going. It was supposed to be a season of joy and contention for the Sixers after adding Paul George in the summer, but everything, in the end, still hinges on Joel Embiid and the guy just can’t get on the court. 

And even when he does get on it, he can’t stay on. 

Embiid has played in a grand total of five games this season, four of which the Sixers have lost. He was playing in his sixth on Friday, and wouldn’t you know it, in the waning seconds of the first half he took a shot to the face courtesy of Indiana’s Bennedict Mathurin. 

Embiid didn’t play the remainder of the game, a 121-114 loss at Indiana to drop Philadelphia’s record to a dismal 7-16. He finished with 12 points and five assists. The Sixers were outscored by 11 points in his 17 minutes. 

The Sixers will now begin the all-too-familiar process — pun sort of intended — of waiting for further news on Embiid’s injury. Who knows how long he’ll be out this time. Sixers coach Nick Nurse had no information on Embiid’s status after the game, other than to say he was “still getting tested.”

The Sixers have been extra cautious with Embiid all season as they play the long game of trying to have him healthy for the playoffs, but it’s getting to the point where they’re in danger of missing the playoffs if their MVP doesn’t start putting some consistent stretches of games together. 

You might recall that Embiid broke his right orbital bone in Game 6 of Philadelphia’s first-round playoff win over Toronto in 2022. The injury caused him to miss the the first two games of the Sixers’ second-round series vs. Miami before he came back in Game 3 wearing a mask. 

Hopefully it’s not a fracture and there are no concussion issues this time around. Embiid will surely be checked for both as this was a pretty good shot to the face. We will continue to update this story as information becomes available.