Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid is progressing in his recovery from the right oblique strain he suffered in a win over the Miami Heat last Thursday, but he’s not back on the court yet and will be re-evaluated again in approximately one week, the team announced Friday, according to PhillyVoice’s Adam Aaronson.

Both Embiid and rookie guard VJ Edgecombe, who is dealing with a back injury, didn’t participate in Friday’s practice, per the Sixers, via Aaronson.

Embiid has already missed three games with his oblique issue. He will miss at least three more based on the timeline the team provided, per Aaronson.

Embiid has appeared in only 33 of the Sixers’ 62 games during their 2025-26 campaign. With 29 absences, he’s awards-ineligible this season and has been for a while.

The soon-to-be 32-year-old Embiid also missed five consecutive games last month with a sore right knee and shin issue.

After playing in just 19 games last season because of lingering left-knee issues that ultimately resulted in him going under the knife in April 2025, Embiid found himself sidelined again for a significant stretch early this season, this time due to a right knee injury.

When the seven-time All-Star center has been on the court this season, he’s shown why he’s still valuable. He’s averaging 26.6 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. He’s turned in a dozen 30-plus-point performances, including a 40-piece in a Jan. 31 win against the New Orleans Pelicans.

The Sixers are 21-12 in the games Embiid has played in this season. They are 13-16 without him on the court, currently placing sixth in the Eastern Conference standings at 34-28 overall. 

As for Edgecombe, last year’s No. 3 overall draft pick, he sustained a lumbar contusion when he fell hard on his lower back after being fouled from behind on a 3-point attempt in a lopsided defeat to the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday.

He was in street clothes for Philadelphia’s bounce-back win over the Utah Jazz on Wednesday. His status is up in the air for Saturday when the Sixers will play the Atlanta Hawks on the road.

Edgecombe is averaging 15.3 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game in his first year out of Baylor. He and Embiid are key pieces of a Sixers squad looking to return to the postseason.

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We have a fun episode of The Dunker Spot coming your way!

Nekias Duncan and Steve Jones are joined by Couper Moorhead (HEAT.com, After The Buzzer podcast) to talk all things Miami Heat. They explore Miami’s drastic shift offensively, their still-elite defense (and zone) usage, and bring much-needed nuance to the conversations surrounding Bam Adebayo, Kel’el Ware, Tyler Herro and more.

After that, Steve and Nekias discuss the imminent return of Jayson Tatum. They get into what he adds to the fold, what they’ll be looking for in his debut, and the (annoying) conversations around his return.

Finally, the guys give a salute to Mist BC for winning this year’s Unrivaled championship. In light of the game ending with a made free throw, they also discuss 1) whether that should be allowed moving forward and 2) potential tweaks in the case that it isn’t.

If you ever have NBA or WNBA questions, email us at dunkerspot@yahoo.com.

3:25  Preseason expectations vs. reality
13:05 Evaluating the new offense
16:46  Bam Adebayo (usage, role, award talk)
33:41  Kel’el Ware (growth, role, usage)
52:04 Tyler Herro’s offensive growth
58:50 Rapid fire, starting with Andrew Wiggins’ fit in Miami
1:01:37 Is Pelle Larsson a core piece moving forward?
1:05:34 Jaime Jacquez Jr. for 6th Man of the Year?
1:10:15  Early returns for rookie Kasparas Jakučionis
1:13:33 What is Miami’s best/ideal closing lineup?
1:17:55 Jayson Tatum is (coming) BACK
1:26:35 Unrivaled championship recap

Peter Joneleit

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Each week during the 2025-26 NBA season, we will take a deeper dive into some of the league’s biggest storylines in an attempt to determine whether trends are based more in fact or fiction moving forward.

Last week: The NBA’s MVP award is up for grabs

Fact or Fiction: Expect Jayson Tatum to be Jayson Tatum again this season

Lost in 10 months of recovery was just how well Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum was playing at the moment he ruptured his right Achilles tendon. He was working on 42 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals and 2 blocks, and he had a few more minutes remaining to try to even Boston’s series against the New York Knicks.

He had already established himself as one of the best players alive, making a fourth straight appearance on the All-NBA First Team, and — with most of his competition eliminated from the first round of the playoffs — he was operating closer to the third-best player in the world, falling short of only Nikola Jokić and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

That’s right: Jayson Tatum was, pretty clearly, the best American-born player alive. He was in the middle of telling us a tale about the best Celtics player since one Larry Bird.

Maddie Meyer via Getty Images

Then, everything changed. Chasing a loose ball, Tatum planted his right foot, and his Achilles tendon failed him, snapping in two with minutes remaining in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. He has said since in that moment, as he writhed in pain on the Madison Square Garden court, he wondered if he would ever play again.

Hours would not pass before his intentions changed.

Because it was a playoff game, all of the chief decision-makers in Tatum’s life were present, including his mother. That also included Boston’s team doctor, who has performed countless Achilles surgeries. But this was not your grandfather’s pickleball injury; this was Jayson Tatum, America’s best basketball player, and they were in New York, where a world-renowned Achilles surgeon, Dr. Martin O’Malley, practiced.

The theory went: If they could perform the surgery quick enough, before any swelling made a procedure more difficult, the recovery process could be expedited. This was only theory because they had never performed an Achilles surgery so quickly, let alone on an athlete of Tatum’s caliber. So, together, they tested the theory, and here we are.

This was unprecedented. This is unprecedented.

Sure, other superstars have come back from Achilles surgeries. Kevin Durant has performed somewhere close to the level he was before his injury, though he has not returned to a conference finals since. Then again, Durant was on the other side of 30 years old when he tore his tendon, and we should have expected some regression.

Tatum turned 28 on March 3. He was 27 when the injury occurred, an age when a superstar’s athletic powers have historically peaked. He was 26 when he won his first championship, and he was defending that title when his right Achilles failed him.

The superstar’s absence was so significant the Celtics gave up all hope of championship contention, shedding the salaries of Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porziņģis, Al Horford and Luke Kornet as part of a season-long attempt to duck the luxury tax.

The Celtics were supposed to take a step back, perhaps even moving into the draft lottery, which could have made Tatum’s decision to sit out an entire season easy for him.

Then, a funny thing happened. Jaylen Brown, along with Derrick White and Payton Pritchard, the remaining core of a title team, held onto the rope. They, along with unheralded center Neemias Queta and a cast of characters on the wing, including Hugo Gonzalez, Baylor Scheierman and Jordan Walsh, kept the Celtics in contention.

Meanwhile, all those same decision-makers in Tatum’s life, including his doctors, representatives for the team and, most importantly, himself, have agreed that he is 100% ready to rejoin his team, just as it is settling into second place in the East.

Yup, all signs point to Tatum making his return Friday against the Dallas Mavericks. Whether we should expect him to be 100% Jayson Tatum is a different matter.

Durant scored 22 points across 25 minutes of a blowout victory in his return from Achilles surgery, though he took more than 18 months to make his debut. Kobe Bryant returned in just eight months, scoring nine points in 28 minutes, only to suffer another injury to the same leg six games later, and he was never the same again. Our own Tom Haberstroh discussed that dichotomy and Tatum’s place within it at great length.

Point is: What Tatum is doing — a superstar at his athletic peak, coming back from an Achilles surgery, rejoining a team that managed to stay in the hunt without him — has never been seen before, and we would be silly to try to write his story’s script for him.

We can speculate all we want about what his return could and should look like. He has done some of that, too, telling O’Malley, “I ain’t come back to be no role player, Doc.”

But he might have to fill a role, complementing Brown in ways Brown once complemented him, and doing so in minutes vacated by Gonzalez, Scheierman and Walsh, all without disrupting the chemistry this roster built in his absence, in order for this version of the Celtics to be at its best. And who is to say he won’t do just that?

Tatum’s instinct may be to take the helm, and if someone who has not played in 10 months wants to grab hold of a playoff race, that could be bad for all parties involved. But to speculate is just that, speculation, and nobody knows for sure what to expect.

At the same rate: Tatum is a winning player and has been since he joined the NBA, and we should probably afford him the time to figure out how best to help this team win. That is what this is all about, 20 games to regain his confidence, to work his way back, to help these Celtics be better than they are. That is the real test of Tatum’s return.

We can wait until next year to decide whether Tatum can ever be the best player on a title team again. For now, let us let him figure this unprecedented return out on his own terms. This is his call, after all, and only he will write the next chapter in his story. He could be a superstar or a role player. He is likely just thankful to be playing again.

For the rest of us, in whatever form he takes, America’s best player, once, is back.

Determination: Fiction. Do not expect Jayson Tatum to be that Jayson Tatum again, the driving force of a contender, not this season; expect him to be a useful player, someone who helps these Celtics perform better than they might have without him, and there is heroism in that. All other expectations are just an added burden to carry.

The 2026 MLB season is almost here and that means you’re likely prepping for your fantasy baseball draft. One of the best ways to prepare is to do as many mock drafts as possible. Of course, sometimes it’s tough to find an accurate representation of your league settings by using the public mock draft lobby.

Not to fear! If you’re a Yahoo Fantasy+ subscriber, you have access to the Instant Mock Draft tool, allowing you to practice your draft in seconds. You can test different strategies, pick from various draft slots and experiment with roster construction as many times as you want, anytime, instantly. Now is a great time to subscribe to Yahoo Fantasy+, so you can use the wealth of tools for your draft prep

[Yahoo Fantasy+ unlocks premium draft tools, player projections and more]

In this series, we’re going to be using the Instant Mock Draft tool to pick from each of the 12 slots in a 12-team fantasy baseball league. Up next is drafting from the No. 4 overall pick.

More Mock Drafts

• No. 1 Pick

• No. 2 Pick

• No. 3 Pick

• No. 4 Pick

Note: We’re using Yahoo’s default points league settings for these mock drafts.

Full Roster

C: Agustín Ramírez, Marlins
1B: Nick Kurtz, Athletics
2B: Brice Turang, Brewers
SS: Bobby Witt Jr., Royals
3B: Manny Machado, Padres
OF: James Wood, Nationals
OF: Cody Bellinger, Yankees
OF: Byron Buxton, Twins
UTIL: Mike Trout, Angels
UTIL: Luis Robert Jr., Mets
SP: Luis Castillo, Mariners
SP: Tyler Glasnow, Dodgers
RP: Carlos Estévez, Royals
RP: Abner Uribe, Brewers
P: Nick Lodolo, Reds
P: Trevor Rogers, Orioles
P: Luis Gil, Yankees
P: Kris Bubic, Royals
Bench: Jorge Polanco, Mets
Bench: Kyle Teel, White Sox
Bench: Colt Keith, Tigers
Bench: Bryan Abreu, Astros
Bench: Mark Vientos, Mets

Real quick: The projections favored Juan Soto over Bobby Witt Jr., so that’s who we were left with in the No. 4 slot. I opted to go with the Royals SS over players like SP Tarik Skubal and 3B José Ramírez based on upside. Kansas City is moving the fences in and Witt is still just 25 years old and has been an AL MVP candidate in back-to-back seasons.

[Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Baseball league for the 2026 MLB season]

Hitter heavy: As you can see, we punted on starting pitching and at catcher in this draft, focusing on filling out my bats for the most part before addressing those positions. That gave us a nice core of Witt-Kurtz-Machado-Wood to carry most of our offensive categories.

I’d been wanting to land Kurtz in one of these drafts. The A’s first baseman feels like a great value toward the end of the second and early third given his potential. Same goes for Wood, who really just needs to improve his strikeout rate to take the next step.

Zero SP: Okay, let’s break down the pitching. I waited until the eighth round to take my first starter — Mariners’ Luis Castillo. He’s described as one of the safer picks toward the back-end of your draft by analyst Fred Zinkie, so I made Castillo a priority. He’s started at least 30 games in three straight seasons and has a career ERA of 3.55. If his K’s bounce back this season, he should outperform his draft slot.

Glasnow and Gil are pitchers looking for redemption on great teams. Rogers and Lodolo offer upside with each coming off a career year in 2025. Waiting on SP feels like a strong play in points formats. Worst case, you can explore trade options given your depth on offense. Best case, some of your late-round gems shine and you can shore things up off the waiver wire.

THIS SEASON WE SPELL REDEMPTION M-I-K-E: Many have spelled the downfall of Mike Trout. These people are cowards!

Just kidding. Trout isn’t going to return to his MVP form, perhaps ever. But if you wanna buy into foolish spring training narratives, Trout did hit 29.9 mph running the basepaths recently. Legs are pretty important at the plate, so if Trout is feeling fresh and healthy, he could (at least) bounce back a bit in 2026. That could mean 30+ homers, and who knows, maybe the future Hall of Famer has another great season left in him.

Draft the Mets: I don’t like talking about the Mets as a Yankees fan, but we’re going to suck it up here. I ended up grabbing three bats in that lineup and none of them are the big names (Soto, Lindor, Bichette). But remember, it’s important to target batters in good offensive environments.

Perhaps in a lesser role, Vientos can look more like his 2024 version, when he had 27 HRs and an .837 OPS. Robert feels like a great late-round sleeper who could bounce back; Scott Pianowski is thinking about it. Polanco should bat in the heart of a deep lineup, giving him plenty of opportunities to drive in runs. Team stacking is more of a DFS strategy and is much more risky in season-long, but can pay off if you limit said risk by targeting low-cost players.

That’s a Relief: In terms of projections, RPs are the least valuable players in points leagues. But you have to play two of them. Saves are always going to be the most valuable, but you can also stream saves off the waiver wire. Instead of grabbing two traditional closers, I picked up Estévez to carry me in saves and then took Uribe, who rarely allowed a run last season and racks up Ks. He’s also one of the premier setup men in MLB, a few slip-ups or injury away from becoming Milwaukee’s closer.

Takeaways with drafting No. 4: I think this was my favorite draft through the first four. There’s not really a hole in my lineup and every bat has some pop, which I like a lot. It’s also a nice mix of veterans and young players who could improve. I’ve also been spoiled up to this point, being able to select between the likely MVP candidates in both the NL and AL. We’ll see what the middle and later picks have in store.