The Philadelphia 76ers are following through on their plan.
Joel Embiid and Paul George are both listed as out for Wednesday’s game against the Cleveland Cavaliers due to “left knee injury management.”
Their status appears to confirm a plan by president of basketball operations Daryl Morey, who said in the offseason that “Paul and Joel probably [will] not play many back to backs, if any.” George and Embiid both played in Tuesday’s loss to the New York Knicks.
The 76ers will also be without All-Star guard Tyrese Maxey, who’s sidelined for multiple weeks with a hamstring injury. The Cavaliers are looking to improve on a 12-0 start to the season.
The 76ers fell to 2-8 with Tuesday’s loss to the Knicks, continuing to raise questions about their playoff viability just 10 games into the season. They’re in 14th place out of 15 Eastern Conference teams, a game ahead of the 2-10 Toronto Raptors.
Embiid is sitting a game after making his season debut. He missed the first six games of the season for what the team described as “left knee management.” He then missed Games 7-9 due to an NBA suspension for shoving a reporter.
George missed the first give games of the season after sustaining a bone bruise in his knee in the preseason. He’s played in the five 76ers game since and thrived in Tuesday’s game against the Knicks with 29 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and three steals. It was his best game since joining the 76ers, and he showed no signs of any issues with his once-injured knee.
Embiid was sluggish in his first live basketball action since playing in the Summer Olympics and showed signs of not yet being in game shape. It’s not clear if he’s dealing directly with any lingering issues on his left knee that required surgery and sidelined him for a significant portion of last season.
He reiterated Morey’s stance in the offseason that he’s not likely to play in back-to-back games.
“If I had to guess, I would probably never play back-to-backs the rest of my career,” Embiid said in October, per ESPN.
Do absences align with NBA’s player participation policy?
The NBA implemented rules in 2023 targeting the load management practice of resting star players when they’re not injured. Teams are subject to fines for various violations of the policy that include prohibiting teams from sitting multiple star players in the same game when they’re not injured and resting star players during nationally televised games.
The NBA launched an investigation into Embiid’s absences earlier this season as he was sidelined without an injury designation other than “knee management.” The NBA fined the 76ers $100,000 for public statements “that were inconsistent with Joel Embiid’s health status and in violation of NBA rules.”
The league determined that Embiid was “unable to play” and that his absences did not violate the league’s player participation policy.
