Why is Joel Embiid not playing tonight against Charlotte Hornets? Latest on Sixers star's absence (Dec. 3)

Joel Embiid is listed as out for the Philadelphia 76ers' road matchup against the Charlotte Hornets on Tuesday. This will be the Sixers star's fifth straight missed game after previously missing 13 straight games to start the season. He has appeared in only four outings so far.

Philadelphia will also be without Andre Drummond and Kyle Lowry, while Reggie Jackson and Caleb Martin are listed as questionable and will be game-time decisions.

What happened to Joel Embiid?

Joel Embiid suffered knee swelling last season and had surgery. Since then, the 76ers have kept him on injury management, giving him more time to recover.

Sixers coach Nick Nurse recently gave an update on Embiid, hinting at further delay on the former NBA MVP's return.

"The swelling’s gone down a bit," Nurse said on Saturday, via NBC's Kurt Helin. "Still some soreness there. That’s about all I can say."

Embiid is listed as out on the Sixers injury report due to a knee injury and personal reasons.

4x NBA All-Star calls out Joel Embiid

Injuries have severely limited the Philadelphia 76ers as they are 15th in the Eastern Conference with a 4-14 record. Moreover, the team has been caught up in off-the-court drama following the leak of their players only meeting on Nov. 20 to try and get things back on track.

In the meeting, Tyrese Maxey reportedly called out Joel Embiid about being late to practices and other team functions.

Since reports of the meeting surfaced, Embiid said that he wants to find out who leaked the details. On Wednesday's episode of FanDuel TV's "Run It Back" show, four-time NBA All-Star DeMarcus Cousins called out Embiid for putting his energy in the wrong place with his team struggling.

"I think Joel's focus is in the wrong place," Cousins said. "F*** who the rat is right now. Your team is struggling, y'all look horrible this season. It's a lot of negativity coming your way from the media, from the organization, from your teammates. It's time to right the ship. Let's get back to the foundation which is playing basketball. Go lock in, go win some games."

Embiid is averaging 19.8 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.0 blocks in 31.3 minutes this season. The seven-time All-Star shot 37.9%, including 16.7% from deep. The Sixers lost all four games.