Nick Nurse and the 76ers got away with a dangerous bet on Wednesday night, and Joel Embiid walked off the floor with a win, a double-double and no immediate problems.
That does not mean the approach suddenly makes sense.
Against the Indiana Pacers, Philadelphia pushed Embiid well beyond the kind of workload that was supposed to be in place this season. The result was a 114-109 victory, with Embiid finishing with 21 points, 11 rebounds and a block. He also made it through the night without any setbacks, which is the part the Sixers had to be hoping for most.
Still, the minutes total is hard to ignore. Embiid was on the court for nearly 39 minutes in just the fourth game of the season, and that came after his first planned absence of the year. If there was a minutes plan in place, with the low 30s revealed as the target, Wednesday was a clear departure from it.
That’s where the concern starts to settle in. Philadelphia’s lack of dependable center depth looked like a possible issue before the season even got rolling, and Wednesday brought that into focus again.
Embiid may look healthier than he has in years, but the injury history doesn’t disappear just because he’s moving well right now. Nurse and the Sixers cannot treat him like a player who can simply absorb whatever workload the night demands.
The numbers tell the story. Under Nurse, Embiid has usually been handled far more carefully.
In the 2023-2024 season, he averaged under 34 minutes per game across his first four-game stretch. In 2024-2025, that number sat at 31.3 minutes through his first four games.
Last season, he didn’t get above 30 minutes until November 30, and it took the Sixers 19 games just to reach Embiid’s seventh appearance.
This season has started differently. Through his first four games of action, the 32-year-old is averaging 35.8 minutes per game, which is not only the highest mark under Nurse, but also higher than the early four-game samples from the Doc Rivers era.
After Wednesday’s win, Nurse admitted Embiid was "maybe a few too high." He said the team sometimes has to do what it takes to get the win, while adding that he hopes to better manage those minutes going forward. Even then, he stopped short of making any promise.
And until the Sixers get more help from Tacko Fall, Jabari Walker or Dominick Barlow, every physical Embiid sequence is going to feel like a breath-hold moment. He’s producing early with averages of 21.5 points, 10.0 rebounds and 4.8 assists, and he’s been strong defensively. But Philadelphia has lived through this story too many times to trust that the safest plan will always be the one they actually follow.
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