Embiid won’t travel with Sixers on two-game road trip

By Brandon Apter, Sports Talk Philly editor  

Early in the second quarter of Wednesday night's game against the Knicks, Joel Embiid and Markelle Fultz collided and the Sixers big man suffered a facial contusion. He didn't return to the game and Embiid was taken to a local hospital for further testing. His Instagram story showed a short clip of him in a hospital bed with the caption "not good".

Per the Sixers, Embiid was released from the hospital this morning and there will be further information coming. He will not travel with the Sixers on their two-game road trip to Atlanta and Charlotte.

Joel will not fly with team today. We hope to provide a more detailed updated no later than tomorrow, likely sooner. He was released from hospital this morning.

Although Embiid passed initial concussion tests and x-rays at the arena were negative, Kyle Neubeck of PhillyVoice reports that a concussion or facial injury has not been ruled out at this point.

Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer was told by sources that Embiid might have suffered a fracture to the orbital bone of his left eye, adding his eye was kind of caved in. Meanwhile, Derek Bodner of The Athletic reports that Embiid's absence will likely extend beyond the team's two-game road trip.

The Sixers remain a half game behind Cleveland for the third spot in the East, so the team will really need to cut down on mistakes more than usual and stay aggressive, despite just playing the Hawks on Friday. Beating Charlotte without Embiid might be tough with Dwight Howard on the other end, so it'll take an all-around effort to get through these two games and perhaps more if he's out for longer.

More as it develops…