NBA Rumors: Paul George Out for 76ers Next 2 Games Due to Knee Injury | News, scores, highlights, stats and rumors

Philadelphia 76ers star Paul George will reportedly miss at least the team’s next two games as he continues to recover from a left knee contusion, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.

According to that report, George “continues to make good progress” but will miss the team’s road trip against the Toronto Raptors on Friday and the Indiana Pacers on Sunday. The team will reportedly provide an “update on his availability” early next week.

Both George and superstar center Joel Embiid (left knee injury manager) missed Wednesday night’s season-opening 124-109 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks.

“We’re going to be smart about it,” president of basketball operations Daryl Morey told ESPN’s Tim Bontemps early October. “Part of being smart is that both Paul and Joel probably don’t play many back-to-backs, if any.”

“If I had to guess, I’d probably never play back-to-backs for the rest of my career,” Embiid added.

As for George, his signing was the biggest move of Philly’s offseason, and one of the biggest summer signings in the NBA, period. The nine-time All-Star appears to be a perfect fit with the star duo of Embiid and Tyrese Maxey, giving the Sixers a two-way wing who is effective as a spot-up shooter but is also more than capable of creating his own shot.

The Sixers spent Embiid’s offseason with complementary role players, prioritizing shooting and a strong backup for star center in Andre Drummond. On paper, this is possibly the best roster the team has had in the Embiid era, and at the very least the strongest unit since the team surrounded him with Jimmy Butler, Ben Simmons, Tobias Harris and JJ Redick in the 2018-19 campaign . .

That group took the eventual champion Raptors to seven games in the Eastern Conference semifinals, famously losing to Kawhi Leonard’s rim-bouncing three at the buzzer. This team has title-or-bust expectations, though everything depends on the long-term health of both Embiid and George.