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The Broad Street Line · Morning

Maxey Wins the Week, but Wednesday's Injury Report Matters More

Embiid, Edgecombe and Walker are projected back for Indiana after the bench scored 16 points against Detroit.

4 questions
By the 76ers Nightly Desk · Tuesday, October 27

Sixers.com and the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Tyrese Maxey was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week after a 3-1 start in which he has averaged 28.8 points. The bigger news for Wednesday at Indiana is that Joel Embiid, VJ Edgecombe and Jabari Walker were all upgraded from Out on Monday, and each is projected to return October 28.

76ers Nightly artwork
Illustration by Hoops Nightly.

Is Embiid playing Wednesday in Indiana?

He is trending that way, but nothing is confirmed. Embiid, VJ Edgecombe and Jabari Walker were upgraded from Out on Monday, and all three carry a projected return of October 28 for the ESPN game at Indiana. Embiid's issue is his right heel. Without him Sunday, Philadelphia trailed from the opening tip to the final horn, fell behind by as many as 21 and never led once.

What did the Detroit loss actually expose?

Size, and the lack of it. With Embiid, Walker, Dominick Barlow, Ariel Hukporti and Tacko Fall all unavailable, Adem Bona was the only true big, and he grabbed 13 rebounds and blocked three shots in 25 minutes. The bench scored 16 points to the starters' 77. Jaylen Brown shot 5-for-20, LeBron James finished at minus-22, and a 34-22 first quarter set the night.

Did Jaylen Brown demand a trade out of Boston?

His side says no. The Philadelphia Inquirer's Chris Hine reported that a source said Brown did not ask for a trade, and Hoops Rumors relayed a denial from Brown's representative, both pushing back on a claim by a Boston analyst. None of it changes anything on the court. Brown is paid $57.1M and is averaging 20.8 points on 42.1 percent from three through four games.

Is a 62-win pace worth taking seriously?

Four games projecting to 62-20 is arithmetic, not a forecast, so nobody should be printing banners yet. The more useful number is the plus-3.1 net rating, earned with Embiid in three of the four games. The next stretch tests it: Indiana on Wednesday, the Knicks on Friday in an Emirates NBA Cup game, then Charlotte on Saturday, the second night of a back-to-back.

The verdictMaxey has carried the start, but Sunday showed that this roster still falls apart without Embiid in the middle. The open question is whether his heel holds up through three games in four days.
When do the 76ers play next?

Wednesday, October 28, at the Indiana Pacers on ESPN.

Is Joel Embiid injured?

Embiid was upgraded from Out on October 26 with a right heel issue and is projected to return October 28 at Indiana.

By the 76ers Nightly Desk, written from the club's data and the reports on file, with every name and number checked against them. How the desks work.

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