PHILADELPHIA – Never has an exhibition carried more weight in the Sixers universe than Friday night’s preseason finale, a home contest against a Minnesota Timberwolves team sitting just about every key player.
For the first time since Feb. 22, Joel Embiid has played in an NBA contest. While Minnesota was not suiting up many rotation players, Sixers head coach Nick Nurse led his team into a dress rehearsal, with a previously stated goal of having “main guys playing as long and as much together as we can.” Embiid was part of that, as were Quentin Grimes and VJ Edgecombe. Paul George, Jared McCain, Trendon Watford and Kyle Lowry were the only players unavailable on Friday.
Tyrese Maxey and Edgecombe started in the backcourt for the Sixers, with Kelly Oubre Jr. filling in the last spot ahead of Embiid and Adem Bona, a massive surprise even after Nurse unveiled that two-big combination and expressed interest in using it last weekend at the Blue X White Scrimmage.
Everything that stood out from Embiid’s performance, plus a tremendous showing from Edgecome and a batch of other notes regarding Nurse’s rotation in the Sixers’ 126-110 win over Minnesota:
Joel Embiid returns to action
It was hard to do much complaining about Embiid’s first stint on the floor, which lasted just over six minutes. He scored three baskets, was noticeably active defensively – steals do not necessarily indicate this, but he did also have a pair of early steals – and each time he grabbed a rebound, Embiid was quickly looking to initiate a transition possession with a hit-ahead pass.
Embiid scored the first basket of the game, and it was thanks to the two-man game he and Maxey have mastered over the years:
Maxey is not the only player with a chance to develop that sort of rapport with Embiid. McCain is the most obvious candidate, but Grimes has more than enough ball-handling and pull-up shooting chops to be dynamic in those actions. Defenses have to pay close attention to Grimes, and that much was evident the first time he and Embiid flowed into a two-man action. A roaring success here:
No surprise that the movement the Sixers had been working through in the preseason feels better when you can hit Joel Embiid at the Elbow. Pick, pop and drive from Embiid. pic.twitter.com/Lpm7FuTCcG
— Steve Jones (@stevejones20) October 17, 2025
Above all else, it was clear from the outset just how impactful Embiid’s presence is. When 10 eyeballs are always focused on one offensive player, all of their teammates’ lives become a whole lot easier. Everyone experienced it, from Maxey on down. But Embiid also seeks out chances to utilize the leverage he has for his teammates’ collective benefit. He looks bought-in as far as scaling down his scoring workload to conserve his energy and provide some additional energy to his teammates in the form of chances with the ball.
Embiid’s second stint, the first three minutes of the second quarter, was less inspiring. He did not move nearly as well and struggled to establish positioning against 18-year-old rookie, Joan Beringer. It led to a few Sixers turnovers. Embiid hit the bench, but was set to return for the final three minutes of the half and redeemed himself then.
Closing the half, Embiid’s movement was much better – specifically going from end to end – and he continued to create scoring chances for his teammates. Embiid totaled seven assists in his 13 minutes prior to intermission to go with nine points, five rebounds and three steals.
The most interesting aspect of Embiid’s offensive usage in the first half was probably his work as an inbound passer. The Sixers scored off of sideline out-of-bounds passes by Embiid three times prior to intermission; one of those came from Embiid himself, when he threw the ball to Maxey and quickly came off screens for a triple:
Nurse said before the game that he expected Embiid’s minutes to extend into the second half, and he indeed played the first six minutes or so of the third quarter – but not without a scare. Embiid barreled into the paint and was whistled for a charge. He took a hard fall in traffic, with all sorts of limbs flying in different directions. It was the exact play that has given Sixers fans hundreds of scares during Embiid’s career.
After about five seconds on the ground, Embiid shot up and made a point to hustle down to the other end of the floor and show he was fine. He played for another minute or so before his fourth and final stint came to a close, ending his night at just under 20 minutes with 14 points, eight assists, seven rebounds and three assists to his name.
No matter how Embiid looked on the floor, the following was going to be true: the absolute most important part of Embiid’s appearance on Friday night will be how he feels when he wakes up Saturday morning. There is little doubt that even a limited version of Embiid can impact winning at the NBA level; where skepticism exists is whether or not Embiid’s knee is strong enough to handle the rigors of NBA action. Last year, it was not.
Other rotation notes
While all of the focus was understandably on Embiid, this game also offered plenty of hints into what Nurse’s rotation might look like when the Sixers open their 2025-26 regular season in Boston on Wednesday. Some takeaways:
• The combination of Embiid and Bona starting was a shock, and it was jarring to see a Sixers team that was forced to play so small last season absolutely tower over Minnesota’s undersized starting five, featuring a tiny point guard, the aforementioned 18-year-old center and three wings in between. Nurse is enthusiastic about the idea of being able to punish opposing teams with force and power; this arrangement gives him the chance to do that.
• However, Nurse did not start three guards as a result. That forced Grimes, clearly a starting-caliber player, to the bench. Grimes is a better player than Edgecombe right now, but developing Edgecombe figures to be a higher organizational priority. Grimes provides much more ball-handling than Edgecombe, whose ball skills are very much a work in progress. Bringing Grimes off the bench does make it easier to stagger him with Maxey and ensure there is always ball-handling on the floor, but nobody should be surprised if Nurse eventually opts to start the 25-year-old alongside Maxey and Edgecombe. Grimes would be the small forward in that scenario.
• Bona’s opening stint alongside Embiid only lasted three minutes, and then Nurse gave two-way signee Dominick Barlow a chance to play a more traditional power forward. If Bona does not start on opening night and Nurse keeps Grimes on the bench, Barlow would be the favorite to help Embiid out in the frontcourt. It is a remarkable rise for a player whose training camp has turned a whole lot of heads. It is worth noting that Barlow opened the second half next to Embiid with Bona on the bench.
• Edgecombe has started in all three of his preseason appearances, and Nurse acknowledged before Friday’s game that it is fair to assume he will keep that spot for Wednesday night’s season opener. He appears willing to embrace the bumps in the road that come with throwing a rookie into the fire. He said a successful season for Edgecombe would be one in which he logs plenty of minutes. “That’s what playing in the league and gaining experience is all about,” Nurse said.
Interestingly, a ton of the Maxey-plus-Edgecombe minutes early on featured the rookie handling the ball and Maxey being used away from it. Weaponizing Maxey off the ball is a clear priority for Nurse, but Edgecombe is going to have to show major strides as a ball-handler relative to where he was at during his lone collegiate season at Baylor. Edgecombe got a whole lot better as the game went on, and by the fourth quarter the 20-year-old looked like the best player on the floor. It was a tremendous home debut for Edgecombe, whose final line was stellar: 34 minutes, 26 points, six rebounds, three assists and five steals while making 10 of his 18 shots.
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