NBA Rumors: Paul George Out for 76ers' Next 2 Games Because of Knee Injury

NBA Rumors: Paul George Out for 76ers’ Next 2 Games Because of Knee Injury

Posted by Admin October 24, 2024 NBA

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Philadelphia 76ers star wing Paul George will reportedly miss at least the team’s next two games as he continues to recover from a left knee bone bruise, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.

Per that report, George “continues progressing well” but will miss the team’s road trip against the Toronto Raptors on Friday and the Indiana Pacers on Sunday. The team will reportedly offer an “update on his availability early next week.”

Both George and superstar center Joel Embiid (left knee injury management) missed the team’s season-opening 124-109 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday night.

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Joel Embiid and Paul George “were in most of the action” at practice today, per Nick Nurse. Said both players did do live drills and are progressing.

The Embiid situation has earned the attention of the NBA after he missed the entirety of the preseason and has already been ruled out through Sunday’s matchup against the Pacers. Per Charania, the league “has begun an investigation into the Sixers surrounding the player participation” of Embiid.

He added, however, that it is “typical for the NBA to review a team anytime a superstar player misses a nationally televised game, as per the player participation policy.”

The Sixers, in an attempt to get injury-prone players like Embiid and George to the playoffs with a clean bill of health, have already acknowledged that the pair probably won’t play both games in back-to-backs this season.

“We’re going to be smart about it,” president of basketball operations Daryl Morey told ESPN’s Tim Bontemps in early October. “Part of being smart about it is having both Paul and Joel probably not play many back-to-backs, if any.”

“If I had to guess, I would probably never play back-to-backs the rest of my career,” Embiid added.

As for George, his signing was the headlining move of Philly’s offseason, and one of the biggest summer additions in the NBA, period. The nine-time All-Star is seemingly the perfect fit for the star duo of Embiid and Tyrese Maxey, giving the Sixers a two-way wing who is effective as a spot-up shooter but also more than capable of creating his own shot.

The Sixers spent the offseason surrounding Embiid with complementary role players as well, prioritizing shooting and a strong backup for the star center in Andre Drummond. On paper, this is potentially the best roster the team has had in the Embiid era, and at the very least the strongest unit since the team surrounded him with Jimmy Butler, Ben Simmons, Tobias Harris and JJ Redick back in the 2018-19 campaign.

That group took the eventual champion Raptors to seven games in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, famously losing on Kawhi Leonard’s rim-bouncing three at the buzzer. This team has title-or-bust expectations, though everything rests on the long-term health of both Embiid and George.