Joel Embiid will miss Sunday’s action after not being cleared in time to return from appendicitis surgery, leaving Philadelphia without its biggest name as the playoffs begin with four Game 1s. The 76ers are trying to upset the Celtics in the series, but they will have to do it without the center who has carried so much of their season.
Embiid underwent surgery after being diagnosed with appendicitis on April 9, and he had already begun the season recovering from April surgery on his left knee. This has been a long, stop-start campaign for him: he played in 38 regular-season games during the 2025–26 campaign while dealing with shin and oblique injuries and an illness.
Philadelphia still gets a boost from Tyrese Maxey, who is on the injury report with a sprained tendon in a finger on his right hand but will be available to play. That matters because the Celtics have no injuries to report for Game 1, a cleaner injury picture that only sharpens the edge of the matchup.
Boston also brings some caution of its own. Jayson Tatum is less than a year removed from tearing his right Achilles tendon, and he played a season-high 40 minutes against the Knicks in his last game before sitting out Boston’s final two games. Mark Williams and Grayson Allen are both questionable for Game 1, adding uncertainty around the rest of the slate.
For Philadelphia, though, the central fact is simpler than the bracket or the injury report: if it is going to pressure Boston, it will have to do it without Joel Embiid in the opening game. That leaves the 76ers asking the same question every playoff team hates most — how long can a plan survive when the player built to anchor it is not on the floor?
For readers following the center’s season, Skip Bayless watches as Joel Embiid gives 76ers a needed lift offers another look at how much his presence changes the team’s ceiling.
