NEW YORK, NY — Joel Embiid will miss his third preseason game as the Philadelphia 76ers prepare to face the Brooklyn Nets in the lead-up to the 2023-24 campaign.

This will be the first time the Sixers' superstar will play less than two preseason games since his rookie season of 2016-17 (save for 2020-21, where he missed one of just two preseason contests). Embiid sitting out the exhibition games is not too shocking given his age and injury history. But Philly will now have to keep waiting to see how new head coach Nick Nurse implements him in his game plans.

Embiid is not dealing with any known injury, so the extent to which he is being rested is a bit surprising, especially when Nurse said that he wanted to get all his players on the court in the preseason. Nurse said that he expected his superstar center to play in Brooklyn. Now, a Friday home game against the Atlanta Hawks is Embiid's last chance to get a test run with his new coach before the real games begin.

Patrick Beverley, one of the Sixers' offseason additions, said that Embiid has looked good in practice and that he has faith in Nurse and the training staff to get them ready for a huge season.

“He's a force. He's the MVP. He gets to the free-throw line. He's able to get little easy little knick-knack fouls, get to the free throw line. He's been great,” Beverley said of Embiid. “He's been great all training camp. Obviously, you know, he's ramping things up and, you know, make sure you want to give him the whole year instead of spurts here. But I think Nick Nurse and his coaching staff and our training staff are doing a hell of a job in preparing everybody to be ready for a long season.”

Nurse recently spoke highly of how Embiid looked in practice, indicating (along with the comment from Beverley) that the Sixers' franchise player should still be on track to play at the beginning of the regular season. Philly opens its 2023-24 campaign on Thursday, October 26 in Fiserv Forum against the Milwaukee Bucks.

In their final preseason match away from home this season, the Sixers will also be without James Harden, who continues to ramp up for the season but whose absence against the Nets was expected. Furkan Korkmaz is dealing with a leg strain and Danuel House Jr. is dealing with left knee soreness. Both of them will be inactive against Brooklyn, too.