“Management of left knee injury.”

That’s the official, listed reason Joel Embiid ruled out the entire Philadelphia 76ers preseason and won’t play Wednesday night when the Sixers’ season officially kicks off against Milwaukee in a nationally televised game (he’s out for two more games over the weekend, too).

Does the 76ers’ reasoning violate the league’s player participation policy? The NBA will investigate, reports Shams Charania of ESPN.

This is a lot of sound and fury, signifying nothing — as long as Embiid is legitimately injured.

It’s not hard to imagine he is. Philadelphia announced that Embiid will be out the first week of the season as he continues to deal with a sore left knee, something that has plagued him (and he survived) since he had surgery on the meniscus in his left knee last February. He returned for the playoffs but was clearly slowed by knee pain — even though he averaged 33 and 10 — and that continued through the Paris Olympics. He was not cleared for 5-on-5 scrimmages, coach Nick Nurse said.

Under the league’s player participation policy – which is focused on ensuring star players do not sit out nationally televised games – Embiid would have to play against Milwaukee if the “team does not show an approved reason for a star player not to participate in a game.” Injury is an approved reason. The 76ers medical team should have no problem meeting that threshold.

The word “management” probably sparked the debate — it implies that Embiid could play, but the team is playing it safe. 76ers GM Daryl Morey admitted the team will play it safe with both Embiid and Paul George this season where both are held out of most if not all of the team’s back-to-backs, but Philly isn’t back-to-back and Embiid misses multiple games, not just this one.

Embiid, George and Tyrese Maxey have yet to take the court together through the preseason. While on paper the 76ers are a legitimate threat to Boston at the top of the East, it would require those big three to be healthy and build real on-court chemistry – something Boston showed on opening night it overflows.

Here’s what 76ers fans need to worry about more than a league poll — can this team stay healthy enough to approach its potential?



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