76ers sit Joel Embiid, Paul George for ‘injury management’ vs. 1st place Cavs

The Philadelphia 76ers are following their plan.

Joel Embiid and Paul George are both listed as out for Wednesday’s game against the Cleveland Cavaliers due to “left knee injury treatment.”

Their status appears to confirm a plan from president of basketball operations Daryl Morey, who said in the off season that “Paul and Joel probably (will) not play many back to backs, if any.” George and Embiid both played in Tuesday’s loss to the New York Knicks.

The 76ers will also be without All-Star guard Tyrese Maxey, who has been out for several weeks with a hamstring injury. The Cavaliers are looking to improve on a 12-0 start to the season.

The 76ers dropped to 2-8 with Tuesday’s loss to the Knicks and continued to raise questions about their playoff viability just 10 games into the season. They are 14th out of 15 Eastern Conference teams, one game ahead of the 2-10 Toronto Raptors.

Embiid sits one game after making his season debut. He missed the first six games of the season for what the team described as “left knee management.” He then missed games 7–9 due to an NBA suspension for shoving a reporter.

George missed the first five games of the season after suffering a bone bruise in his knee in the preseason. He has played in the five 76ers games since and thrived in Tuesday’s game against the Knicks with 29 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and three steals. It was his best game since joining the 76ers, and he showed no signs of trouble with his once-injured knee.

Embiid was sluggish in his first live basketball action since playing in the Summer Olympics and showed signs of not yet being in shape. It’s not clear if he’s dealing with lingering issues on his left knee that required surgery and sidelined him for a significant portion of last season.

He echoed Morey’s stance in the offseason that he likely won’t play in back-to-back games.

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

Are absences consistent with the NBA’s player participation policy?

The NBA implemented rules in 2023 targeting load management practices for resting star players when not injured. Teams are fined for various policy violations which includes prohibiting teams from sitting multiple star players in the same game when they are not injured and resting star players during nationally televised games.

The NBA launched an investigation into Embiid’s absence earlier this season when he was sidelined with no injury designation other than “knee management.” The NBA fined the 76ers $100,000 for public statements “that were inconsistent with Joel Embiid’s health status and in violation of NBA rules.”

The league ruled that Embiid was “unable to play” and that his absence did not violate the league’s player participation policy.