PHILADELPHIA – 237 days ago, a hobbled Joel Embiid went flailing into the crowd with a reckless, helpless contest as the third quarter of a miserable game ended. He sat and watched the final 2.1 seconds of the frame. Then stayed on the bench for the entire fourth quarter as his team mounted a comeback without him.
Before the Sixers took the court for their preseason finale on Friday night, Tyrese Maxey asked Embiid a question.
"Hey, are you excited?"
"Man," Embiid told him, "I'm so excited just to be out there to play."
237 days had passed since Embiid last appeared in an NBA game. He would only go so far describing the joy he felt playing in an exhibition, but Friday's return to action clearly brought the former NBA MVP a whole lot of relief.
"First of all, I'm just happy to touch a basketball and be able to play basketball and do what I love," Embiid said. "When you don't get that, it's tough. But that's what I'm most happy about. Tonight, that's all I can think about."
He was not the only one. Tyrese Maxey and Sixers head coach Nick Nurse both looked relieved talking about Embiid's successful preseason debut. But there were also glimmers of hope about what all of this can turn into if Embiid stays on the right course.
"I think the biggest thing that I felt was his joy," Maxey said. "And just, like, how happy he was to be out there and how happy I was for him to be out there."
Embiid logged 19 minutes across four shorter stints, scoring 14 points to go with eight assists, seven rebounds and three steals. Of his four stints, only one looked lackluster: a three-minute burst to open the second quarter in which Embiid struggled to establish firm positioning against 18-year-old Timberwolves rookie Joan Beringer, resulting in a few fruitless possessions. Before and after that blip, though, Embiid looked like someone in control.
"I thought he moved good, played good, shot it good, passed it good," Nurse said. "I didn't see too many negatives out there."
It was the assist total that most pleased Embiid, he said, as he has ramped up efforts to ensure all of his teammates have chances with the ball.
"The way I've always wanted to play," Embiid said, "is everybody touching the ball, the ball moving side to side, people getting off the ball, and just playing together."
No matter what condition Embiid is in, he always attracts five pairs of eyes. Perhaps leveraging that more often can help Embiid preserve himself while propelling his teammates to greater heights.
"It seems like so far – at least tonight – that's the way it was," Embiid said. "Everybody touching the ball. I mean, I'm looking at the stats. Tyrese, VJ [Edgecombe], [Quentin] Grimes: 20, 20, 20 [points]. And I was happy about the assists. So that's how I want to play."
All three young guards the Sixers handed heavy minutes to excelled. Each one of them – and, eventually, Jared McCain – has a chance to make the most of playing with an interior force unlike most others.
"Having a big man [with a] dominant presence like that," Grimes said, "is just going to make our life easier."
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The comforting part of Friday's game, for many Sixers players and officials, was probably how normal it all felt. Many of the people currently with the organization were also around for the periods in which it felt as if Embiid had completely mastered the sport of basketball. Nobody is banking on him performing Herculean tasks just yet, but watching him at the center of an NBA game and constantly putting an opposing team in binds felt familiar.
Except, was Embiid actually at the center of it all?
"Dude, you're a stretch four now," Maxey joked to Embiid. "Shoot some threes."
In what was almost certainly a first in his NBA career, Embiid did not take the opening tip for the Sixers. Those honors went to Adem Bona, the Sixers' backup center and surprise fifth starter in Friday's game. Nurse hinted last weekend that he wanted to give Embiid and Bona a chance to thrive in a double-big lineup where Embiid's perimeter skills are utilized more frequently. Embiid and Bona only played together for the opening three minutes and change on Friday, but the team has been practicing with those two paired up often.
"It does [have potential]," Embiid said. "Obviously, having another big body, that's going to help [with] rebounding… I've got the rim, I've always had the rim, so try to be a presence down there… [Bona] knows what his role is, he knows what we need from him. I think over my career, that's something that I've always felt like was kind of needed. Everybody has always focused on shooting, stretch four, this and that. And I think just having a bunch of guys around that are just going to go after every loose ball, play defense, rebound the ball and fly up and down the court. I think that goes a long way, especially for me as I'm coming back and I'm trying to stay on the right path."
coast to coast. 👊 pic.twitter.com/J2ba0TjG35
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) October 18, 2025
As Embiid alluded to, the vast majority of bigs he has played with in his career have been floor-spacing threats. Bona has many outlier skills and abilities; shooting is not one of them. Does it change Embiid's responsibilities?
"I guess we're about to find out," Embiid said. "I don't know. I've always had to do everything on both ends – which, I love doing it, but then again, it also puts your body at risk a lot of times – so we're about to find out. I don't know what it's going to look like. As long as we win, that's all that matters."
I asked Joel Embiid about sharing the floor with Adem Bona. He explained why he sees potential there & I followed up about whether or not playing with Bona might change his responsibilities as someone who has primarily played with stretch bigs.
“I guess we’re about to find out.” pic.twitter.com/R8kfwiJxSV— Adam Aaronson (@SixersAdam) October 18, 2025
The Sixers do not have all of the answers, but maybe the Embiid-Bona combination can be among many short-term solutions to an imbalanced roster built around a player with physical limitations.
Nobody expected Friday's game to provide the Sixers with the answers to the test that will be 2025-26. But it did give them some relief… and just maybe a little bit of hope.
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