The Philadelphia 76ers will have to wait awhile to get a look at their new star tandem in action as center Joel Embiid and Paul George were ruled out of their NBA season opener against Milwaukee on Wednesday.
Embiid, the Cameroon-born big man who helped the United States to Olympic gold in Paris, missed all of the pre-season as part of the management plan for his surgically repaired left knee.
George, the nine-time All-Star who joined the Sixers as a free agent in the off-season, has been sidelined since he suffered a bone bruise in his left knee in a pre-season win.
The Sixers officially listed both as “out” of the Bucks clash on the injury report on Tuesday night, with Embiid also to miss games against the Toronto Raptors and Indiana Pacers this week.
“They’re evaluating them here as we go,” Nurse said. “Just as soon as we can get them out there and get them scrimmaging, get them ramped up, we’ll get them in the action.”
Embiid played just 39 games last season because of a torn lateral meniscus, returning after surgery with seven games left in the regular season.
He raised eyebrows when he told ESPN earlier this month that “if I had to guess, I would probably never play back-to-backs the rest of my career.”
