76ers’ Joel Embiid out Thursday, to have knee evaluated

Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid is out for Thursday's game against the Utah Jazz and will receive further evaluation of his left knee in the next 24 hours, a team official told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski .

Embiid is expected to return to Philadelphia and not rejoin the team in Utah, the official told Wojnarowski.

Embiid injured his left knee in the fourth quarter of Tuesday night's 119-107 loss to the Golden State Warriors.

The injury occurred with 4:04 left when Embiid was double-teamed by the Warriors' Jonathan Kuminga and Draymond Green. After Kuminga knocked the ball away from him, Embiid fell to the ground to retrieve it, and Kuminga then fell to his knee.

Embiid grabbed the knee and was in visible pain. He finally got up and limped to the locker room and did not return to the game.

Embiid missed the Sixers' previous two games due to knee soreness.

He finished with 14 points on 5-of-18 shooting, with 7 rebounds, 2 assists and a team-low minus-21 net rating.

Embiid also missed three games earlier in January due to swelling in his left knee. ESPN's Ramona Shelburne reported that the injury is something that Embiid and Philadelphia will have to deal with for the remainder of the season.

Embiid, the reigning NBA MVP, can only miss five more games before becoming ineligible for playoff awards, including All-NBA team honors and MVP, due to the league's new rule requiring a minimum of 65 matches to qualify.

When healthy, Embiid has continued to perform at an MVP level. He is the NBA's leading scorer with 35.3 points per game and averages 11.3 rebounds and 5.7 assists. He scored a franchise-record 70 points and 18 rebounds on January 22 in a 133–124 victory over the San Antonio Spurs.

The 76ers are 0-4 on their five-game road trip.

Kendra Andrews of ESPN and the Associated Press contributed to this report.