Paul George’s preseason injury was not of the catastrophic variety.
After George hyperextended his left knee Monday night in the Sixers’ exhibition win over the Hawks, a team official offered the following update Tuesday:
“An MRI completed today showed a bone bruise and no structural damage to Paul George’s left knee. He will be re-evaluated in approximately one week.”
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That means George will not play either of the Sixers’ final two preseason games Wednesday vs. the Nets and Friday at the Magic. The team’s regular season will start on Oct. 23 against the Bucks in Philadelphia.
In his preseason Sixers debut, George scored 23 points against the Timberwolves and looked like his smooth, skillful self. He left his second exhibition game after taking an awkward step and hyperextending his knee as he competed with Atlanta’s Jalen Johnson for a loose ball.
“He’s a bucket maker,” Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said Tuesday of George. “That’s what we know. I think he’s one of the guys that’s trying to figure out exactly what fits in, trying to figure out exactly how much he needs to do. … But he’s been really good, man. He’s very good defensively in a lot of ways. He’s a really smart team defender. He’s smart on the ball.
“I’m impressed with his willingness to rebound at both ends. … He’s been incredible as far as practice. Really attentive, really focused, does every little, little thing that we ask him to do — every rep, every possession. It’s great.”
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The Sixers said Sunday that Joel Embiid won’t play this preseason “as part of his left knee management.”
Embiid had a post-practice conversation Tuesday with fellow All-Star Tyrese Maxey before running through an individual workout.
Without Embiid, the Sixers have used Andre Drummond and Guerschon Yabusele as their primary centers. Nurse started Maxey, Eric Gordon, Kelly Oubre Jr., Caleb Martin and Drummond in the second half against the Hawks.
“It’s not that I don’t take it super seriously … but I’m trying to experiment and gather tons of information right now, which we’ve done the last couple of games,” he said. “So it’s probably fluid with everything.”