Philadelphia 76ers Can't Shake the Injury Bug

By Keith Mado October 15, 2024 13:12

Photo by Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

Aside from the emergence of Tyrese Maxey, the Philadelphia 76ers had one of their most problematic campaigns last season since the "Trust the Process" era began. The Sixers started the 2023–24 season with high hopes. The team looked promising, and they were also able to deal with the whole James Harden drama early in the regular season. Everything looked dandy in the City of Brotherly Love, except until the injury bug plagued their roster. Their franchise player, Joel Embiid, only played 39 games last season, the fewest he's played since the 2015-16 season, and role players were in and out of the roster as well.

Sixers boss Daryl Morey put all of the team's eggs in one basket this season when he signed Paul George, a nine-time NBA All-Star, believing that a big three of Embiid, Maxey, and George would be sufficient to lift them over the Eastern Conference hump. However, Morey and Sixers fans already see cracks slowly creeping up their team.

First, Joel Embiid has yet to see some action after the Olympics due to a lingering knee injury that has him in street clothes for the rest of the preseason. The Sixers released a statement stating, "As part of his left knee management, Joel Embiid was assessed by doctors on Thursday. Embiid is progressing well and will continue to take part in an individual treatment plan designed to best support his health and wellness for the 2024-25 season. He will not play in this week's preseason games. Further updates will be provided as appropriate."

However, Embiid's knee injury the same injury he's been playing through throughout his career has caught up to the MVP, as he recently told ESPN's Tim Bontemps, "If I had to guess, I would probably never play back-to-backs the rest of my career." The big man is only 30 years old, and Sixers fans can only hope that their franchise player still has a lot of basketball in him.

The latest addition to Philly's injury list is their big offseason acquisition, Paul George. The savvy vet suffered a hyperextended knee during his second game as a Sixer. George buckled his knee after a defensive play in the second quarter of their match against the Atlanta Hawks. He quickly exited the game and did not return.

"I felt that it hyperextended, and immediately it was, all right, I need to get taken out and look at it, but if you ask me, I'm not too concerned about it," PG told The Philadelphia Inquirer.

There's still no update on whether George will miss time due to the injury, as Sixers head coach Nick Nurse only left reporters with an encouraging statement postgame: "Hopefully, it'll be OK, so he's back with us right away."

This leaves Tyrese Maxey to once again do the heavy lifting for Nurse and the Sixers until both or at least one of his running mates return to action. The budding 23-year-old had himself a breakout season last campaign. He averaged 26 points, 6.2 assists, and 3.7 rebounds as the Sixers' number-one option for most of the 2023-24 season.