Sixers’ Joel Embiid reportedly will not play vs. Atlanta Hawks

The Philadelphia 76ers are reportedly leaving Joel Embiid behind on their trip to Atlanta to face the Hawks Friday night, according to Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer:

Probably a sigh of relief for Sixers fans, as the rest of the regular season is more-or-less meaningless to Philadelphia after they already locked up the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference.

Despite that, however, Embiid played 30 minutes of the Sixers’ abysmal 129-101 loss to the Miami Heat at the Wells Fargo Center on Thursday night. He did sit the entirety of the fourth period, however. He finished with 21 points on 9-of-13 field goal shooting and added six rebounds and two blocks.

As the second game of a back-to-back, and again, a meaningless game for the Sixers, the status of the other starters vs. the Hawks may be in question as well, but nothing is confirmed as of yet.