Joel Embiid protests 76ers ruling him out vs. Wizards, claims it must be April Fools joke

The Philadelphia 76ers are set to take on the Washington Wizards on April Fools Day, that much is certain. Whether star Joel Embiid will be able to suit up? That is far less clear.

The team announced early Wednesday that Embiid would miss the game while he recovers from an illness. However, Embiid seemed to take exception to that on social media.

“Must be APRIL FOOLS joke????” he tweeted early Wednesday afternoon, quote-tweeting a report that he was ruled out. “Played against Miami in the same conditions and I’m planning to play tonight!!!”

That, of course, left Joel Embiid fans more than a little confused. Was the star planning to play on Wednesday night or simply throwing fans for a loop on the always-tricky April Fools Day?

A few hours later, a follow-up tweet from Joel Embiid appeared to provide the answer. He will not play on Wednesday night, by the sound of it.

“I guess they won’t let me play basketball!!” Embiid tweeted at 4:35 p.m. ET. Within 15 minutes the tweet had accrued over 1,000 likes and 140 retweets.

Of course, availability question marks with Joel Embiid are nothing new. He has been plagued by various injuries throughout his NBA career.

Embiid is coming off an oblique strain that caused him to miss nearly a month of action. He played on Feb. 26 against Miami, then did not play again until March 25 against Chicago. He had gotten three games in before his reported illness.

In those three games, Joel Embiid averaged 30.0 points, 6.3 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.3 blocks per game. He’s clearly a force to be reckoned with — and one the Wizards, presumably, anyway, won’t have to deal with on Wednesday night.

During his career, Embiid has never played more than 68 games in a regular season. He has reached the 60-game mark in only four of his 10 seasons in the NBA.