The Philadelphia 76ers, with the addition of Paul George, are poised to be a threat to contending teams this season. Or at least, that was the idea. The Sixers had already made it clear that they had no plans of playing Joel Embiid for preseason as they manage his knee injury. That was okay because they still had PG and Tyrese Maxey to take care of things, right?

In an ideal scenario, yes. But keep in mind that George is just as injury-prone as Embiid himself. And unfortunately, in Monday’s preseason win over Atlanta, the former Clippers star hyperextended his left knee. It was later diagnosed as a bone bruise. With one week away from the regular season, it’s only natural that everyone looks for a promising update about the two hoopers.

However, Nick Nurse’s remark about the duo is worrying.

“Nick Nurse said he will get an idea at the beginning of next week if Joel Embiid and Paul George will be able to play in next Wednesday’s season-opener vs. the Milwaukee Bucks,” Keith Pompey of Philly Inquirer tweeted.

Perhaps the only positive takeaway from this is that the timeline falls within the initial re-evaluation time of one week. Paul George, for his part, shared that he wasn’t “too concerned” with the injury. Considering the 9x All-Star has dealt with enough injuries in the past, hopefully, this can be taken in a positive light.

Furthermore, Coach Nurse was all praise for the 34-year-old after his performance in two preseason games.

Despite injuries, Nick Nurse expresses confidence in Paul George’s impact, while ‘new strategy’ hints emerge

It was in the second quarter of the Hawks matchup that PG-13 found himself flat on the floor in an awkward position. The vet was defending Jalen Johnson when his right knee ‘hyper-extended’ upon landing, after being pushed back during the play. In the 12 minutes he was on the court, the NBA steals leader recorded 8 points while in his debut against the Wolves, George scored a team-high 23 points!

Although the two games might be too small a sample size, Coach Nurse seems to have seen enough. After Tuesday’s morning practice, the 76ers coach was quite happy with what he saw from George. “He’s a bucket-maker,” Nurse expressed.

“He’s a really smart team defender. He’s smart on the ball. I’ve been impressed with his willingness to rebound on both ends… He’s been incredible as far as the practices, really attentive, really focused, does every single little, little, little thing we ask him to do on every rep, every possession.” (credit: PhillyVoice)

Clearly, Paul George’s settling well into his new home. Now, all Philly fans need is for PG to stay healthy for the rest of the season. Considering how the team is handling their injuries, there’s no doubt that both Paul and Joel will receive every help from the staff.

In fact, they’ve recently even hinted at not playing the super-duo in every game! “Part of being smart about it is having both Paul and Joel probably not play many back-to-backs, if any,” Daryl Morey had said. Surprisingly, even Embid reciprocated similar words.

Hopefully, it will allow the Big 3 of the Sixers to build that chemistry which can then act as the launchpad to NBA glory.

Before leaving, do watch the Dual Threat Show hosted by BG12 where Bulldogs’ Asia Avinger details her experience with Kobe Bryant, her WNBA ROTY picks, and more in the video below.