Joel Embiid, battling knee swelling and soreness, sent for MRI

Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid is scheduled to undergo an MRI on Monday as he deals with swelling and soreness in his injured left knee.

The 76ers have ruled Embiid out indefinitely. He has not played since Jan. 27 after suffering a bruised left knee and has missed 16 of Philadelphia's past 17 games.

Embiid said he experienced swelling in his knee after going through a full practice Thursday.

The No. 3 overall pick in 2014, Embiid missed the first two seasons while recovering from foot surgery. He is averaging 20.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game in 2016-17.

Embiid said last week that he wasn't pleased with how the Sixers had initially declared him as day-to-day when he first suffered the bone bruise. He later underwent an MRI that revealed a slight tear in his meniscus.

"I wasn't too happy with the way it was kind of handled before," Embiid told reporters in Philadelphia on Thursday. "As far as the day-to-day part, I was told that I was going to miss at least two or three weeks, so I wasn't happy with the way it was handled.

"I thought keeping my name out there was going to just like literally have people think about me all the time instead of just saying when I was going to be back."

The Sixers had been targeting a possible Embiid return against the New York Knicks on March 3.

"Obviously I was disappointed, but like I said before, they are making the decisions," Embiid said Thursday of then possibly missing four more games. "Obviously the plan is making sure I am in shape. Today was actually my first [full] practice in four or five weeks. So I am not in basketball shape."

"There was no swelling [Wednesday]," Embiid added of how he felt after going through a light practice session. "[On Thursday, after a full practice session] there was just a little bit. I just finished practice, I feel good, there is still a little swelling. Got to manage that. I've got to be asymptomatic before I can play."

The Embiid news comes after the Sixers announced last week that No. 1 overall pick Ben Simmons would miss his entire rookie season because his surgically repaired foot had not fully healed. Simmons underwent surgery to repair an acute Jones fracture of the fifth metatarsal bone in his right foot on Oct. 4.

ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk contributed to this report.