UPDATE, 1:55 p.m. ET
Injury reports are out!
For the Sixers, Joel Embiid (injury management) is out. Coach Nick Nurse warned us such would be the case last night after the Sixers beat the Mavericks and Embiid played 36 minutes in his return after a month sidelined. Paul George (finger) and Andre Drummond (toe) are both doubtful. Eric Gordon (knee), Kyle Lowry (hip) and Quentin Grimes (trade pending) are all questionable.
For Miami, Jimmy Butler remains out as he is indefinitely suspended from the team. Josh Richardson (heel) is also out. Haywood Highsmith (Achilles soreness) and Duncan Robinson (hip) are both probable.
Another back-to-back! Isn’t this fun?
The Philadelphia 76ers will be out on the floor of the Wells Fargo Center again Wednesday night, just 24 hours removed from their 118-116 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday. The Sixers will host the Miami Heat on Wednesday night to close their sixth back-to-back of 2025, just a month and some change in to the new year.
Last night marked Joel Embiid’s first game back after being sidelined for a month due to injuries. Embiid played what could be considered a safer game than he may have in the past — making a conscious effort to avoid unnecessary rough contact where he can — but it absolutely worked. The big fella posted a triple-double in his return with 29 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. More importantly, after a bit of clunkiness to start, he seemed to integrate right back into a lineup of youngsters that have started to play better together as of late.
That being said, he was out for a month and played 36 minutes in that contest, so it wasn’t a huge surprise that Sixers’ coach Nick Nurse ruled Joel Embiid out for the latter half of this back-to-back against the Heat.
Not a surprise, but Nick Nurse said Joel Embiid will not play tomorrow.
— Paul Hudrick (@PaulHudrick) February 5, 2025
With this being a back-to-back for both teams, full injury reports from the Sixers and Heat will not be published until this afternoon. We will keep you posted on any developments there as they become available, but with this Sixers’ season, I’m not even going to try to speculate about who might be on the floor for a given night.
That being said, things to watch for include Tyrese Maxey, who has been on an absolute tear and is currently on a six-game streak of scoring at least 30 points (with two +40 performances in there) as well as a 15-game run of scoring over 25. Justin Edwards has continued to impress as he’s gotten more opportunities on the floor as of late and might I say: wow, that rookie is not looking like someone that should have gone undrafted. Ricky Council IV deserves a shoutout too for showing off some seriously improved passing and playmaking recently. And of course, Guerschon Yabusele and Kelly Oubre Jr. continue to bring the energy, passion and ability to take over the game in clutch situations.
The interesting thing for both the Sixers and Heat right now is that fans of either are probably more engaged with the trade talks and rumors right now with the actual games. For the Sixers, the team ruled out KJ Martin last night pregame with a “trade pending”, but we are still waiting to see where he is actually headed and what the Sixers might be getting in return.
For the Heat, I imagine it’s hard to focus on absolutely anything with the ongoing Jimmy Butler saga. For those unaware somehow, Butler kicked off the new year by telling the Heat he would like to be traded. Since then, it has been a whirlwind of rumors and ongoing tension between Butler and Heat President Pat Riley. Butler has been suspended indefinitely from the team after being suspended temporarily two times previously in January for missing team activities. He played in just five games for Miami since the start of 2025 — two in the very beginning of the year before the trade discussion started, and three more in the middle of January — with his last contest being on Jan. 21.
As of Wednesday morning, the Butler rumor mill is still chugging along but nothing concrete just yet. But one could see how a six-time All-Star asking for a trade and the speculations on potential returns if they do move Butler could be a bit distracting from a random January game.
Even without Butler, however, the Heat are nothing to scoff at. Former Sixth Man of the Year and first-time All-Star in 2025 Tyler Herro leads the squad averaging 23.8 points per game shooting 39.1% from long range on 9.7 triple attempts per outing. With the way the Sixers let the Boston Celtics take endless wide open threes just the other night, one can only hope they don’t give Herro the same courtesy. Miami also has Bam Adebayo, who is averaging 16.4 points, 9.9 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game throughout the campaign and has been putting up 25.0 points, 9.8 rebounds and 6.3 assists in the past four games.
It has the potential to be a very interesting day in the NBA as the trade deadline of 3 p.m. ET Thursday draws closer, especially for these two squads. But despite the noise, there’s still a game to play.
The Sixers and Heat tip off at 7:30 p.m.
Game details
When: Wednesday, February 5, 7:30 p.m. ET
Where: The Center, Philadelphia, PA
Watch: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic
Follow: @LibertyBallers
