76ers Explain Robert Covington's Recent Stretch of Absences

When the Philadelphia 76ers paid a visit to the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night, they got a reinforcement with their starting guard, De’Anthony Melton.

After missing the last few games due to back soreness, Melton was finally upgraded to available ahead of Wednesday’s battle in Atlanta.

As for two other injured Sixers, they remained off the court and away from the team.

76ers center Joel Embiid started battling knee swelling last week during the team’s Friday night loss against the New York Knicks. As he was in his second game back since returning from a four-game absence due to a sprained ankle, Embiid started experiencing discomfort in his knee.

While the Sixers didn’t believe Embiid’s recent setback would be severe enough for him to miss matchups, he ended up missing the team’s game against the Utah Jazz last Saturday. He was ruled out once again for Wednesday’s game against the Hawks, and is on pace to miss Friday's outing against the Sacramento Kings as well. 

Embiid isn’t the only player on the team dealing with knee swelling. Early last week, the team ruled out its reserve wing, Robert Covington, for the same reason. After missing the first matchup of 2024 against the Chicago Bulls, Covington sat out for the back-to-back set against the Knicks and the Jazz as well. Similar to Embiid, Covington remained off the floor on Wednesday.

According to The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Keith Pompey, both Covington and Embiid were at the Sixers’ practice facility in Camden, New Jersey, working out on Wednesday. Prior to Wednesday’s game, Nurse addressed the state of Covington’s setback, per Pompey.

“He’s got a knee that continues to swell, then it goes down and you think it’s OK,” Nurse told reporters. “Then he goes through the workout and had some more swelling. But today, it did not. So he got his workout in and the swelling seems to be under control.”

The Sixers will return home to close out their short week with a matchup against the Sacramento Kings on Friday night. While Covington seems to be on the right track with his recovery, his status for Friday’s game will remain the same.