The Sixers were down two stars Saturday night for the final game of their their back-to-back.
The team listed both Joel Embiid (right foot plantar fascia injury management) and LeBron James (low back sciatica management) as out for its matchup with the Hornets at Spectrum Center. Dominick Barlow (lower back stress reaction) and Ariel Hukporti (right Achilles tendon tear) were also sidelined.
Both Embiid and James also sat out one leg of the 5-1 Sixers’ first back-to-back. Embiid has averaged 35.2 minutes through five games. The seven-time All-Star’s career high is 34.6 during his 2022-23 MVP season. James had his best performance so far as a Sixer in the team’s win Friday night over the Knicks, scoring 20 points and coming one rebound and two assists short of a triple-double.
The Sixers listed three players as questionable on their initial afternoon injury report in Jaylen Brown, Jabari Walker and Tacko Fall. They were all ultimately upgraded to available.
Brown and Walker each have a knee injury officially classified as “left patellar tendinopathy.” Brown missed his first game as a Sixer on Friday. Fall has a left quadriceps injury. The big man on a two-way contract hadn’t yet been available in either the preseason or regular season, but he’d been nearing a green light to play.
The 3-3 Hornets were without Kon Knueppel (left hamstring strain), Coby White (left calf strain) and Grant Williams (right hamstring strain).
