Joel Embiid will not play Sunday when the Philadelphia 76ers host the Indiana Pacers, leaving Philadelphia without one of its top scorers for a 1 p.m. EST game at Xfinity Mobile Arena. The absence comes after Embiid scored 20 points Thursday, but he is out because of right foot plantar fascia injury management.
The matchup matters now because the Sixers are 10-3 and trying to navigate a busy stretch that continues Monday in Brooklyn. The Pacers, meanwhile, arrive at 5-8 after a 106-104 home win over the New York Knicks on Friday in Emirates NBA Cup play, and they did it with all five starters scoring at least 12 points. Jalen Brunson had 33 points and 11 assists for the Knicks, but Indiana held on, with Kelly Oubre Jr. adding 16 points.
Philadelphia has already seen what this series can look like when the game tilts late. On Oct. 28 at Indiana, the Sixers trailed 88-75 entering the fourth quarter before outscoring the Pacers 39-21 and winning 114-109. Four Philadelphia players scored at least 20 points in that first meeting, a reminder that the Pacers could not close the door even with the home crowd behind them.
That is the part that makes Embiid’s absence feel sharper than a routine rest day. He was productive Thursday in the comeback over the Toronto Raptors, and the Sixers needed that production after falling behind by 17 points in the first quarter. Now they have to carry Sunday without him, and the only certainty is that the rotation Philadelphia used to survive one rally will look different when the next one starts.
The immediate question is not whether the Sixers can beat the Pacers again. It is how long Embiid stays sidelined while Philadelphia moves from Sunday afternoon into Monday night, because this two-game stretch may tell the team more about its short-term depth than any early-season record ever could.
