The Philadelphia 76ers finally saw their trio of Joel Embiid, Paul George and Tyrese Maxey on the court together for the first time this season on Wednesday. It took about half.
George left the Sixers’ game against the Memphis Grizzlies, a 117-111 loss, with a left knee hyperextension and did not return, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania. The knee is the same knee that caused George to miss the first five games of the season due to a bone bruise from a previous hyperextension.
The injury appeared to occur when George landed awkwardly after jumping to defend Grizzlies wing Desmond Bane in the third quarter.
Here are the plays/replays of Sixers’ Paul George experiencing some sort of pain in his left leg as soon as he lands.
Hard to see exactly what happened, but PG walked to the locker room. pic.twitter.com/LmzeeDYpFg
— Erin Grugan (@eringrugan) November 21, 2024
Not long after it was reported that George had been ruled out, Embiid locked horns with Grizzlies big man Jaren Jackson Jr. and visibly limped to the couch. Luckily he stayed in the game.
George aggravating or reinjuring his knee would be just the latest blow to a miserable season for the Sixers, who entered Wednesday last in the Eastern Conference with a 2-11 record.
Philadelphia was projected to be in the upper echelon of East contenders this season after trading for George, but injuries have wreaked havoc on their roster thus far. Both Embiid and George were out at the start of the season: Embiid with a knee ailment and George with a bone bruise.
Then Embiid earned himself a suspension for pushing a columnist for writing something about his injury management that he thought went too far. Then Maxey went down with a right hamstring injury.
On Wednesday, all three finally returned to court, resulting in another loss and even more pain.