PHILADELPHIA — Given his injury history, Joel Embiid isn’t going to play 70 games in 2024-25.
Paul George, who played 74 for the Clippers last year in the first time he’s topped 70 since his late 20s, isn’t trending in a more durable direction in his mid-30s.
Preseason injuries to both may not have measurably changed that outlook. But the absence of two-thirds of the 76ers’ new big three for the final stages of preseason supplies room for who else might fill minutes and the stat sheet in the 82 games before the ones that matter most to two future Hall of Famers.
Embiid, the team shared Sunday, is “progressing well” in an individual treatment plan on his left knee.
While not playing in the preseason, he’s continuing to work to the side and was jovially dribbling during timeouts on the 76ers’ bench Wednesday. He will be reevaluated before the next Wednesday’s season opener with Milwaukee.
Paul George, who hyperextended his left knee Monday, had an MRI Tuesday that showed no structural damage. He will be reevaluated early next week.
While that doesn’t technically rule either out for Wednesday’s opener with Milwaukee, Game 1 is not what matters.
Embiid began the season stating that his only goal is to be healthy in the playoffs, and a roster loaded with veterans is specifically designed to get the 76ers there without having to overtake Embiid, George and Tyrese Maxey.
The 76ers took the court against Brooklyn on Wednesday night with that objective and free minutes to test depth.
“We’ve got a lot of stuff to figure out,” coach Nick Nurse said. “Just trying to continue to figure out adjustments, the things that we haven’t been doing well, and trying to re-coach during the week and what shows up, and then polish up the things we have been doing well.”
With or without George and Embiid, the 76ers have a lot of new faces. Nurse is still working through a handful of positional adjustments and trying to find combinations that work.
With the possibility that Embiid could miss time, that has meant getting backup center Andre Drummond plenty of work with Maxey. Both started Wednesday.
With Guerschon Yabusele the only viable reserve big at the moment, it’s delayed seeing what he would look like at the four-spot next to a big like Drummond. That plan is on the backburner for the moment, though he and Drummond got a couple of minutes together in the second quarter.
“I’m probably more concerned with him at the five here in the short term,” Nurse said. “I am trying to figure out how he fits in when everybody’s back.”
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No, Ben Simmons did not play in Philadelphia on Wednesday. The more things change …
The No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft has played in Philadelphia three times with the Nets since forcing his way out of town. Coach Jordi Fernandez gamely offered that Simmons would only play three of four preseason games after declaring himself healthy despite having played just 49 games the last three seasons.
Former 76ers draft pick Shake Milton did play for the rebuilding Nets, getting a slight cheer of recognition upon checking in during the first quarter.
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One of the main frontiers for Nurse are backcourt rotations. He’s mostly preferred to pair his true point guards with true shooting guards, as he did Wednesday in starting Maxey with Eric Gordon.
Maxey played the entire first quarter and 17 first-half minutes before a scary fall late. He had seven points (on 2-for-7 shooting) and five assists, four with the first unit over eight-plus minutes.
Gordon had eight points in eight minutes. With Drummond, KJ Martin and Kelly Oubre Jr., the starting five produced 23 points in less than eight minutes.
Maxey got a later run with Jared McCain in the backcourt, before McCain and Reggie Jackson manned the start of the second quarter.
Oubre, Yabusele and Caleb Martin comprised the frontcourt in a second unit. Drummond also got some time with likely second-unit point guard Reggie Jackson in the second quarter.
Late in the second quarter, Nurse got about two minutes of Drummond, Yabusele, Martin, Oubre and Maxey, mixing in some zone defense. The Nets promptly hit a pair of 3s.
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NOTES >> The only absence Wednesday besides George and Embiid was Kyle Lowry, in the name of load management. … Oubre shot 5-for-8 for 18 points in 21 minutes in the first half. Nurse rolled 10 guys in the first half, digging as deep as Ricky Council IV. … KJ Martin, McCain, Council, Jeff Dowtin and Yabusele started the third quarter. … The 76ers wrap up the six-game preseason slate Friday night at Orlando.
