The Philadelphia 76ers entered the 2024-25 season knowing that navigating injuries to key players would be one of the primary challenges they'd encounter. It's true for every organization, to some degree, but the 76ers have gone all-in on a core with an unfortunate history of ailments.
Few expected the injury bug to strike as soon as it did, but after just four preseason games, the 76ers are already convincing themselves to breathe a sigh of relief.
Philadelphia traveled to play the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday, October 14. The air left the building during the 104-89 win, as 76ers star Paul George suffered what appeared to be a gruesome injury to his left knee.
Per Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer, George believes he was able to avoid disaster and expects to be able to make a speedy recovery from what was diagnosed as a hyperextension.
“I reach for , poked it out,” George told The Inquirer of how the injury occurred. “Went to go take a step to go kind of burst through, and then my leg kind of hyperextended back. I felt that it hyperextended, and immediately, it was, ‘All right, I need to get taken out and look at this.’ But if you ask me, I’m not too concerned about it.”
76ers head coach Nick Nurse provided a similar update:
Nick Nurse provides an update on Paul George after last night. “Everything checks out okay” pic.twitter.com/Xh0lIVhj0P
— PHLY Sixers (@PHLY_Sixers) October 15, 2024
It's a relief that George isn't seriously injured, but every sigh of relief is currently being met with a harsh reminder of the danger of two of the Big Three's injury history.
Paul George is OK, but the 76ers are in uncomfortably familiar territory
Philadelphia has already decided to sit franchise player Joel Embiid for the remainder of the preseason. The intention is to monitor his left knee and ensure that he's able to enter the regular season without aggravating past injuries.
George could potentially join Embiid on the sidelines until the regular season begins, when both players will be tasked with carrying a heavy workload for a team with championship ambitions.
Unfortunately, injuries will always be a concern for the Embiid and George pairing. Embid missed 43 games in 2023-24, while George has been absent from at least 26 outings in two of the past three seasons—although he only missed eight this past year.
As such, it should come as no surprise that 76ers fans and critics alike were fearful of history repeating itself when George's knee hyperextended.
Thankfully, the 76ers appear to be on track for a generally healthy start to the 2024-25 regular season. It's essential that they're able to keep the starters on the court early, as the new Big Three will need time to learn each other's tendencies.
The bigger concern facing Philadelphia, however, is that the playoffs will roll around and injuries will either have played a factor in their seeding or rear their head once the postseason begins.
It's a story that 76ers fans are all too familiar with, as it's seemingly defined the frachise's postseason aspirations over the past decade. Unfortunately, it's already presenting as a possibility as soon as the 2024 preseason.
Crisis was averted against the Hawks, but 76ers fans are understandably concerned about history repeating itself as the preseason reflects postseason appearances of yesteryear.