Sixers forward Paul George was on a minutes restriction in his season debut on Monday vs. his former team (the Clippers) and said after the game that he “felt good,” per Tim Bontemps of ESPN. George, having recovered from offseason surgery on his left knee, returned to the starting lineup and had nine points and seven rebounds in 21 minutes of action.
“It felt great to finally play basketball again,” said George, who last suited up on March 4. “Been like eight months since I played, so it was a long journey. A lot of ups and downs, a lot of hiccups … but felt good to finally get out there, and I felt good. Rusty, but I felt good.”
As a result of George’s minutes restriction, he ended up sitting out most of the fourth quarter as the Sixers eked out a two-point victory in crunch time. According to Bontemps, the 35-year-old said after the game that a potential increase on that minutes limit would be based on his work with the team’s medical staff and how his body responds to playing again.
We have more on the 76ers:
- Star center Joel Embiid missed a fourth straight game on Monday due to right knee soreness, but head coach Nick Nurse is optimistic that his absence won’t last much longer. “He’s OK, just not quite pain-free,” Nurse said, per Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports (Twitter link). “Still day to day. I think it’s getting better. I don’t think he’s far away from playing.”
- With George and Embiid not fully available to open the season, the Sixers have been leaning heavily on guards Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe to generate offense. As Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer writes, that has resulted in very heavy workloads for both Maxey (a league-leading 40.4 minutes per game) and Edgecombe (37.3 MPG). Nurse said on Monday that he has spoken to both players about the issue and that both insisted they’re comfortable with their high minutes totals. “They’re both on board,” the Sixers’ head coach said. “I said, ‘Whenever these (injured players) come back to help, we’re going to welcome them with open arms. But until that point, let’s stay focused on doing what needs to be done.”
- With Embiid out and Adem Bona sidelined due to an ankle sprain, the Sixers are learning more heavily on Andre Drummond, who has started the team’s past four games and played at least 33 minutes in each of those contests. As Pompey writes, Drummond held his own against talented Clippers center Ivica Zubac on Monday, scoring 14 points and grabbing a season-high 18 rebounds. Interestingly, the two-time All-Star is also incorporating an outside shot into his game — he’s 7-of-17 on three-pointers this season after never having made more than five in a season prior to 2025/26.
- In a mailbag for The Philadelphia Inquirer, Pompey considers whether Embiid or George have any trade value and acknowledges that neither player would be a hot commodity on the trade market at the moment. However, Pompey believes that George, in particular, has a chance to rebuild his value if he can stay on the court for an extended stretch this season, since his health issues have been acute injuries that shouldn’t lead to chronic conditions.
Here is to hoping George can actually rebuild some value so we can potentially find a team to take on some of that contract
Nobody will touch his contract, unless they add an asset to it (picks or players).
Giving up $50M to both Embiid and George should automatically qualify Morey from being banned in the NBA. Crippled a franchise for his own personal ego.
Little bit of revisionist history there –
The Embiid extension was definitely foolish but at the end of the day he won an MVP, was drafted there, and had been the identity of the team for many years. Shipping him out for pennies on the dollar just so he can have a healthy season somewhere else would have certainly seen Morey get fired (Nico Harrison?).
The PG deal has backfired completely but at the time of the signing it didn’t seem THAT bad. The part that people were concerned about were the last 2 years. The first 2 should have been fine.
6ers are in a pretty good spot, even with these nasty contracts. I’d say Morey has given himself some breathing room with his last couple of drafts.
Agree with you on the Embiid deal. Personally I didn’t want to sign PG but Morey kind of backed himself into it.
Oh I agree, Embiid winning the MVP helped him get that super max deal. Problem is when the young guys they have drafted need to get paid, they’ll be over the luxury tax because of George/Embiid’s deal. George expires 2027/28 and Embiid 2028/29. I’m interested in what they would ask for George if I am AKME.
Patrick Williams ($18M)
Coby White ($12M – expiring)
Zach Collins (17M – expiring)
Jevon Carter ($6.8M – expiring)
Paul George ($51M)
Eric Gordon ($3.6M – expiring)
Probably would need to attach one pick in there atleast unprotected for 76ers to dump all that salary onto us. Maxey/McCain/Edgecombe/White/Embiid/Williams,Grimes, Oubre would get to the ECF at least.
Are the Bulls dumb enough to trade White?
If we were dumb enough to take a guy who was the 6th man of the ACC and was projected originally to be 20-30 pick range from most NBA draft experts and pundits, only to be selected 4th overall with players that were still available (Hali), then yes, we are incredibly dumb enough to trade Coby.
Maybe not Sacramento dumb though, taking on Lavine/DDR salaries but you catch my drift lol.
Nobody else is Sacramento dumb unfortunately.
Please
I can dream ok? lol
I’m talking to the bone, complete flip flop.
Flip flop on what?
Don’t know what he eventually signed for but Quentin Grimes is surely proving he’s not a flash in the pan.
One year deal (qualifying offer) at about 8 million I believe. He’ll be an unrestricted free agent after this season
He signed his QO which is worth about $9 million.
Another mistake by Morey, essentially inviting him to leave as a UFA.
Birds rights still intact NBA is still ok with the collective bargaining agreement IMO.
Yet the Sixers have Bird rights on him and remain a great option to resign Grimes and or do a sign in trade. I also like Grimes but averaging 3+ TO’s a game isn’t the way to get a high level contract.
I like my Wiz to sign Grimes next summer. It’ll be an overpay, just like Houston had to overpay VanVleet a couple of years ago. The team will be under the salary floor, and everybody is on their rookie deals, so someone has to be paid. I wouldn’t mind Grimes being that player at 26.
Go Andre Drummond!
The process is over—got his bag and US gold, his ego’s satisfied #business101
Have to find a way to get McCain going. Once that happens that 4 headed monster a G is going to be hard to stop on offense.
We were down 10 heading into the final quarter, sat PG and didn’t play Embiid and we came back and won. That’s on Maxey Grimes and VJ who have been excellent this season.
It proves if anything we don’t need Embiid. PG sure he plays defence and we are a little thin on forwards with his skills but we don’t need Embiid.
Low-key same with McCain. Our guard trio have been great, ultimately I see Grimes leaving after this season and McCain then replacing him in the line up but I’d be rolling as is. PG 25 mins roughly, Embiid out and McCain reps in the g league until completely healthy and confident
This “one” game doesn’t reveal that, if anything it reveals the opposite. We were down 10 and eked out a 2 point win, that had the refs called the foul on the harden 3 with 10 seconds left it might have been a loss…against a poor clippers team on the 2nd day of a b2b…its a good win, and I enjoyed it. But it signifies that we need help.
Not to mention they didn’t have kawhi and a few other players