Nick Nurse provides promising updates on both Paul George and Joel Embiid

Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Neither Joel Embiid nor Paul George played in the Philadelphia 76ers’ season opener against the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday. George sat out due to a knee injury he suffered in a preseason contest versus the Atlanta Hawks on Oct. 14, while Embiid is dealing with soreness in his left knee.

But Philadelphia’s head coach — Nick Nurse — provided injury updates on the stars. According to Nurse — who is in his second season leading the team from the sidelines — they participated in the lion’s share of the 76ers’ practice on Thursday and “look like they’re progressing.”

Nonetheless, the 76ers organization has already announced that Embiid will sit out for the first week of the season.

Without one of the top big men in the NBA in Embiid and a two-way star in George, Philadelphia lost its season opener by 15 points. The 76ers put together a balanced scoring effort, as six players reached double digits in points.

However, the scoring contributions that Philadelphia received from players up and down the roster weren’t enough to outweigh huge offensive performances from Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Lillard and Antetokounmpo combined for 55 points, and the former finished with a game-high 30 on 9-of-19 shooting from the floor and 6-of-12 from deep.

The fact that both Embiid and George are injured at the start of the season might be enough to instill worry among fans of the 76ers. They have been two of the more injury-prone stars in the NBA over the past several years. Embiid missed more than half of Philadelphia’s 82-game slate during the 2023-24 regular season, and George played 60-plus games in just one of his five seasons as a member of the Los Angeles Clippers.

If George and Embiid aren’t consistently on the floor for Philadelphia this season, it’s hard to imagine that Philadelphia will finally get over the hump and make it past the second round of the playoffs in 2025. Hence, here’s hoping that both players can stay out of harm’s way for much of the 2024-25 campaign.