Report: Joel Embiid on track to return in early April

There have been various reports about when Joel Embiid might return to the court for the Sixers, but one thing we know is, nothing seems to be concreate.

Embiid underwent a successful procedure on his left knee back on Feb 6 and his return has been fluid at best. Early reports indicated that Embiid would be out “anywhere between six to eight weeks.”

Get our free mobile app

Back on Feb 27, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski had said Embiid could return to the court in late March.

On March 12, ESPN's Ramona Shelburne said on NBA TV that the Sixers are hoping Embiid returns "the last week or so of the season".

Today NBC Sports Philadelphia's John Clark adds another timeline into the mix, reporting that Embiid is on track to return for the first or second week of Arpril, before the playoffs begin on April 20.

However, if the Sixers are in the play-in tournament, that would begin Wednesday April 17.

The Sixers will try to stay out of the play-in tournament, but have a brutal stretch of games coming up with Embiid out of the lineup. The team has a stretch of games against Hornets, Heat, Suns (road), Lakers (road), Clippers (road), Kings (road), Clippers, Cavs (road) and Raptors (road) before the end of March.

The Sixers have seven games in the month of April to close out the regular season, which could give Embiid a chance to get some games under his belt before the playoffs begin.

The team has struggled in the pain with Raul Reed and Mo Bamba sharing many of the center minutes, but Nick Nurse has elected to go small with guys like K.J. Martin and Nicolas Batum logging some minutes in the middle with Embiid out.

With or without Embiid, the Sixers are a good bet to at the very least make the play-in tournament, as they sit 10.5 ahead of Brooklyn right now with just 17 games left to play.