The Sixers got off to a promising 5-1 start this season, but they’ve come crashing back to earth over the past few weeks. The bottom fell out Tuesday night against the Orlando Magic, as their injury-depleted
husk of a roster got annihilated, 144-103, in by far the worst loss of the season.
After the game, head coach Nick Nurse told reporters that the Sixers “didn’t play well enough or hard enough or get back enough.” What was left unsaid: They were woefully undermanned, which has this starting to feel just like last season all over again.
Joel Embiid (knee) and Paul George (ankle) both missed Tuesday’s loss, as did VJ Edgecombe (calf), Adem Bona (ankle) and Kelly Oubre Jr. (knee). George was initially listed as probable before getting downgraded to out, which raises questions about what exactly is going on with him health-wise.
“[George] reported soreness in the ankle after the game the other night,” Nurse told reporters ahead of Tuesday’s game. “Has not been in anything since then, and we’re just trying to keep following up on that and seeing where he is.” Nurse added that the Sixers are “in the process of checking to see what exactly is wrong and what the extent of it is.” Nothing to see here, move along!
Meanwhile, Nurse said Embiid practiced fully Monday and participated in at least part of shootaround on Tuesday, but “he’s just not quite there.” He was “trending toward” playing, which is why the Sixers originally listed him as questionable, but they decided to play it safe with him. It’s still unclear what’s causing his right knee soreness, but nothing to see here, move along!
Edgecombe has missed the past two games with a calf strain after averaging 37.3 minutes across his first 15 appearances. Nurse said it’s a “fair assumption” that the Sixers are being cautious with him because of the Achilles tears that both Damian Lillard and Tyrese Haliburton suffered last season while trying to play through calf injuries. He did add there’s “nothing on the imaging, and it’s a calf strain, and he’s also improving as well,” although it’s unclear when to expect him back on the floor.
The Sixers have at least been transparent about Oubre, who suffered a sprained LCL in his left knee and is set to be re-evaluated next week, and Bona, who has missed the past five games with a right ankle sprain. Neither of those figure to be long-term issues, but their absences are compounding the strain being placed on the rest of the roster with Embiid and George sidelined.
Tyrese Maxey is currently leading the league in both minutes per game (39.9) and miles run per game (2.8). With stars across the NBA going down left and right with soft-tissue injuries—which Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr at least partially attributes to the increased pace of the game—the Sixers are playing with fire by overtaxing Maxey to this extent early on. He had a similar workload early last season before suffering a hamstring injury that sidelined him two weeks, which would effectively be a death knell for this iteration of the team.
The Sixers might need to lean even further on whatever depth they still have upright, as Trendon Watford suffered a non-contact injury against the Magic on Tuesday. He was later ruled out for the game with a left adductor strain. The Sixers revealed Wednesday that he’ll be out for at least the next two weeks. Justin Edwards also got banged up against Orlando, although he did later return to the game.
Perhaps some combination of Embiid, George, Oubre, Edgecombe and Bona will return soon and this concern-trolling will all be much ado about nothing. But even if Embiid and George are both back on Friday, their inconsistent appearances early in the year raise questions about how long either of them will stay on the floor before missing more time. Their absences have a trickle-down effect on the rest of the roster, particularly with a few other rotation players nursing injuries.
As LB’s Erin Grugan noted Wednesday, this is the downside of devoting two roster spots to Eric Gordon and Kyle Lowry, neither of whom appear capable of scaling up into larger roles now that they’re in the twilight of their NBA careers. As is tradition under Daryl Morey, the Sixers also left their 15th roster spot open heading into the year to give themselves more in-season optionality. That will make it easier for them to convert Dominick Barlow or Jabari Walker from a two-way deal to a standard contract, but it also leaves them down one ambulatory body who could help steal a few minutes of rest for another rotation player.
If nothing else, at least we’ll always have the first few weeks of this season.
Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Salary Swish and salary-cap information via RealGM.
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