Joel Embiid and VJ Edgecombe both came off the injury report Tuesday, and the Sixers play at Indiana tonight on ESPN against a Pacers team with eight players listed. Beating a depleted opponent is the easy part; the harder part is finding rebounds behind Embiid while Jabari Walker and Dominick Barlow are out.
Are Embiid and Edgecombe actually playing at Indiana?
Both were moved from Day-To-Day to Cleared on Tuesday. Gina Mizell of the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Edgecombe was not on the first injury report for Indiana and was a full participant in practice. Embiid has gone back and forth between rest tags and a right heel listing all week, so cleared does not mean a full workload. Edgecombe matters on the glass: he averages 8.0 rebounds in 32.6 minutes, and only Embiid's 9.7 is higher.
How banged up is Indiana?
Badly. Ivica Zubac, T.J. McConnell, Ben Sheppard and Johnny Furphy are Out, and Tyrese Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard, Obi Toppin and Aaron Nesmith are all Day-To-Day. Indiana is 2-2, lost its last game and has played four games in seven days, with one day of rest tonight to Philly's two. Pascal Siakam, at 23.5 points a game, is the one Pacer whose status nobody is questioning.
Is the rebounding problem real or just talk-radio filler?
It's real, and the Sixers are saying so themselves. Chris Hine of the Inquirer quoted the locker room on needing to "box out, try to fight." Walker is Out tonight with a left knee issue and is targeted for Friday. Barlow is targeted for Nov. 2, Tacko Fall for Nov. 4, and Ariel Hukporti not until next October. Hoops Rumors reported the team applied for a disabled player exception for Hukporti. For now, Adem Bona and Dean Wade are the depth.
Should anyone worry about the Jaylen Brown trade-request story?
No. The claim came from Boston analyst Brian Scalabrine, and it was about Brown leaving the Celtics, not Philadelphia. ESPN and the Inquirer reported that Brown's representative denied it, and Liberty Ballers reported that Scalabrine partly walked it back. Brown is averaging 20.8 points and shooting 42.1 percent from three. The only thing the story changes is what Boston radio talks about this week.
Is Joel Embiid playing tonight against the Pacers?
Embiid was moved to Cleared on Oct. 27, so he is available for Wednesday's game at Indiana on ESPN.
When is Jabari Walker coming back for the Sixers?
Walker is Out tonight at Indiana with a left knee issue, and Oct. 30 against the Knicks is his target date.
