Joel Embiid made his season debut on the first leg of a back-to-back. The Philadelphia 76ers superstar played 26 minutes in a 111-99 loss to the New York Knicks and wants to play in the Sixers' next game against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Nick Nurse said that Embiid and Paul George will get examined in the morning before their statuses for Philly's matchup with Cleveland are finalized. Embiid said plain and clear that he wants to play but that it's ultimately not his decision.

“I mean, I want to [play]. That’s up to those guys,” Embiid said, referring to the training staff. “I know I said I would never play back-to-backs but I'm a troll so I'm sure, at some point, I'll play. I feel good. I feel good right now. We're gonna see but it's up to them.”

Joel Embiid reopens possibility of playing back-to-backs

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The theme of the lead-up to the season was that Embiid would listen to the 76ers' medical and training staffs to prioritize his long-term health. That was a big part of the reason why he skipped the preseason and took several games to prepare himself to play in the regular season. The big man himself said that playing consecutive games seemed like a thing of the past for him.

“If I had to guess, I would probably never play back-to-backs the rest of my career,” Embiid told ESPN's Tim Bontemps during the offseason. It was a quote that made the rounds online, illustrating the extreme patience the 76ers will exercise when it comes to his health.

While Embiid is steadfast in his ability to play, didn’t play a ton of minutes and did look decently mobile in his return game — at least in comparison to how he has previously looked in games after long breaks — playing both ends of a back-to-back would be pretty aggressive. Even though the 76ers are deep in the standings with a 2-8 record, rushing Embiid back into the swing of things with two games in as many nights goes against the long-term vision he and the franchise propped up before the season began.

Ultimately, if the 76ers training staff thinks it’s okay for Embiid to play, he'll play. It'll help him get back into game shape quicker and give the Sixers a chance to hand the Cavs their first defeat of the season.