NBA investigating 76ers over Joel Embiid injury

The 76ers and Joel Embiid could be in trouble with the NBA.

ESPN's Shams Charania reported Wednesday that the league is likely to open an investigation into the 76ers' handling of the former MVP's “player involvement” as he deals with what the team calls left knee management.

Embiid is expected to miss at least the first three games of the 76ers season, including Wednesday's season opener in Philadelphia against the Bucks.

The 76ers said in a statement Tuesday that Embiid is “responding well to his individual plan” and will take part in a scrimmage this week.

He will be re-evaluated over the weekend, the team added.

“He's been practicing, he looks good, he's making progress, he's not quite ready yet, he'll be pretty soon,” 76ers coach Nick Nurse told reporters on Tuesday.

Sources told ESPN the team hopes to keep Embiid healthy for the postseason by “regularly giving him time off during the regular season.”

News of the league's potential investigation comes just days after 76ers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey indicated he preferred not to play in consecutive games against Embiid and Paul George, who also missed the opener because of a knee injury will miss on Wednesday.

Embiid echoed the same sentiment, postulating that he may never again be in court on two consecutive days.

“If I had to guess, I would probably never play back-to-back games for the rest of my career,” Embiid told ESPN.

Embiid was only able to play in 39 games last season due to knee injuries.

Over the summer, Embiid played an important role for Team USA on their way to the gold medal.

Embiid, 30, has battled injuries throughout his 10-year NBA career – including meniscus surgery in February. He appeared in 433 of a possible 801 regular season games and missed two entire seasons after being drafted No. 3 overall in the 2014 draft.