When the Sixers walked out of the locker room on Friday to start the second half, Joel Embiid ominously wasn’t among them.

The Sixers shut Embiid out in the third quarter for the remainder of their loss to the Pacers. Late Friday night, a team official said Embiid suffered a fractured sinus against Indiana and would undergo further evaluation this weekend.

After suffering an accidental blow to the right side of his face from Pacers shooting guard Bennedict Mathurin, Embiid left the game with 6.5 seconds left in the second quarter. As he followed his own miss inside, Mathurin’s arm hit Embiid. The seven-time All-Star stayed on the floor for a few minutes and went back to the locker room with a towel over his face.

Embiid was bothered by a problematic left knee earlier this season and missed 17 of the Sixers’ first 23 games. He has a history of facial injuries, suffering a left orbital fracture in 2018 and a right orbital fracture in 2022.

“He practiced all week and was in good shape,” Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said after the game. “We did a lot of things to kind of familiarize ourselves with him. But I can imagine that he will feel like the black cloud is hanging over him a little. He keeps running into something, unfortunately…really unfortunately.”

The 7-16 Sixers began the evening without Caleb Martin (right shoulder impingement), Kyle Lowry (lower back spasms) and Adem Bona (left knee tendinopathy). Their Big 3 of Embiid, Paul George and Tyrese Maxey have only played one full game together.

At 24 years old, Maxey is used to bad luck and strange developments with the Sixers.

“You just keep going. … Next man up mentality,” he said. “The only bad thing about it is that I think we went in the right direction. The guys have kind of figured out their roles and what the coaches want from them.

“We played the right way. …Now it’s difficult. When Jo is there we know how we will play. We knew how we would play without him. …We have to change our minds. It’s different and that’s okay. That’s life.”

The Sixers are now 1-5 with their cornerstone no stranger to injury issues.

“Stay positive,” George said. “That’s all we can do. It’s just fun to go out there and play basketball and play for each other. Injuries are a part of this game. We are very aware of this.

“We’ll just try to pick up the pieces and hold on to it for Joel. … We just have to keep going, keep going.”