Sixers' Joel Embiid: 'I'm not healthy'

Joel Embiid wants the conspiracy theories to slow down.

The 76ers center said Saturday that his being sidelined has nothing to do with the team trying to lose games.

"I'm not healthy," he told the media following the morning shootaround at the team's practice facility. "I think my [left] knee [has a] bone bruise. It's been on and off working out. It swells up a little bit, and then it kind of slows down.

Like I said, it's all about patience. But I'm not healthy."

Embiid will miss his ninth straight and 12th in the last 13 game Saturday night when the Sixers host the Miami Heat at the Wells Fargo Center. He suffered the knee injury on Jan. 20 against the Portland Trail Blazers.

"I would say today is the best day I felt in the past two weeks," Embiid said.

Dealing with an injury is nothing new to the third overall pick of the 2014 draft. He missed the past two seasons after having surgeries to repair to his right foot.

"I missed two years and we had a lot of patience," he said. "This is not the time to lose patience."

Follow and contact 76ers beat writer Keith Pompey on Twitter and on Instagram at PompeyOnSixers.