On Tuesday evening, the Philadelphia 76ers fell back into the loss column with a blowout road loss at the hands of the Denver Nuggets. The 76ers were playing without several key players in this one, including big man Joel Embiid, who remained out of the lineup due to injury.

Embiid was in attendance at Ball Arena on the sidelines, however, and after the game, he shared a nice moment with fellow MVP big man Nikola Jokic of the Nuggets.

Embiid and Jokic have long been viewed as the two best centers in the NBA landscape, and fans have grown frustrated with the lack of head-to-head matchups between the two former MVP's. In fact, Embiid has not played a game in Denver since the 2019-20 season, having been injured at that time of the year in every season since.

Article Continues Below

Meanwhile, the 76ers recently slipped to ninth place in the Eastern Conference amid the Atlanta Hawks' 10-game winning streak, and it remains unclear when Embiid will be ready to return to the court. The 76ers are still dealing with the absence of Paul George due to a league suspension, as well as Tyrese Maxey, who is out with a finger injury.

At this point, it's highly unlikely that the 76ers could realistically drop any further than tenth place in the Eastern Conference, meaning they will be in the play-in tournament at worst. However, for a season that started out with so much promise, it's certainly frustrating for Philadelphia fans to once again see things start to fall apart due to injury.

The 76ers will next take the court on Thursday evening as they look to get back into the win column on the road against the Sacramento Kings.