Paul George ‘not too concerned’ after hyperextending knee in Sixers’ preseason win vs. Hawks

ATLANTA — Paul George enjoyed the local delicacy — aka, a Chick-fil-A sandwich — from his locker inside State Farm Arena late Monday, before changing into a navy 76ers sweatsuit and walking out to the second charter bus headed to the airport.

The only visible reminder of what had taken the All-Star wing off the floor of his team’s preseason win over the Hawks was the black sleeve on his left knee. He felt it hyperextend back after poking the ball away from Atlanta’s Jalen Johnson, and then attempting to take a step to “burst through” an opening. His immediate thought was, “All right, I need to get taken out and look at this.”

But though George expressed disappointment about any “very valuable” on-court time he may now lose with his new team ahead of its Oct. 23 season opener, he calmly stressed he is “not too concerned” about the long-term prognosis.

“Obviously, I’m in a new organization. I’m trying to build,” George said. “We’ve got so much with growing pains, and [only] so much time to learn and try to figure each other out. … So it [stinks]. It’s unfortunate.

“But, again, I’m not too concerned going forward of what this injury is. It’ll just be a little time.”

How much time? We’ll see.

Jeff Stotts, a certified athletic trainer who tracks NBA injuries through his “In Street Clothes” social media account, posted late Monday that the term hyperextension is “more of a descriptor of what happened to the knee than an actual diagnosis.” Injuries resulting from a hyperextension, he added, can include bone bruises, ligament sprains, or capsule injuries. Though all have differing recovery timelines, his data indicates the average player absence with that descriptor lasts 6.4 days.

George said he had already received some treatment Monday, and will see how the knee responds Tuesday morning and “evaluate from there.” The overarching postgame locker room vibe was not of a team that believed its much-anticipated season was already over before it began, but of one ready to get home after a rare six-day, three-game preseason road trip from Des Moines, to Boston, to Atlanta.

“We don’t need him right now, so let’s get him out of the game” All-Star point guard Tyrese Maxey said, when asked for his initial reaction to George’s injury.

» READ MORE: Paul George hyperextends his left knee in Sixers’ preseason win at Atlanta Hawks

Yet George’s setback also is not ideal. The most cynical onlookers would say this is why the Sixers should have never put championship dreams on two max-contract stars in their 30s with extensive injury histories. For the more realistic, it is another reminder that fortuitous health and big-time winning are deeply connected for any team, in any season.

A reason this timing felt particularly cruel? It came on the heels of the Sixers’ official announcement that Joel Embiid will not play in the preseason. It is part of the season-long management plan for the 2023 NBA Most Valuable Player, following February knee surgery and playing in the Olympics.

But the news left coach Nick Nurse already fielding questions about his team’s preparations without Embiid, who did not make this road trip and has not yet scrimmaged since training camp began two weeks ago. The coach said that practices still typically begin with drilling “all the Joel actions” that require the big man to fend off double-teams, and for teammates to operate around him. Nurse also shared he “axed” that segment for Monday’s shootaround.

“We still do some of them when [Embiid] isn’t here,” Nurse said, “because we have other guys that just need to learn the spacing and the cutting and all that kind of rhythm.”

» READ MORE: Sixers rule out center Joel Embiid for the remainder of the preseason

Implementing George with Embiid and the dynamic Maxey was always going to take time and experimentation. It also was always going to come with periodic load-managing absences for both players, an interesting layer while tracking playoff seeding in a competitive top of the Eastern Conference. But though the Sixers have been system-focused during these early practices, Maxey also acknowledged on Monday that teammates “kind of just got to wait” to develop that on-court chemistry for however long Embiid and/or George are sidelined.

“When they do get back, they can kind of play off that system and they do what they do, as well,” said Maxey, who totaled 14 points and seven assists during Monday’s win. “That’s kind of where we’re at right now.”

Added Nurse: “[We are] trying to work him into things, and he wants to work into things, too. This doesn’t give us a chance to do that, and hopefully it’ll be OK so he’s back with us right away.”

George is not the only player requiring acclimation, however.

Nurse was already tinkering with lineups before George’s injury on Monday, moving veteran guard Eric Gordon into the starting lineup ahead of forward Caleb Martin. With Embiid out, Andre Drummond and Guerschon Yabusele have gotten significant run at center during their first four games. And rookie sharpshooter Jared McCain received heavy minutes earlier in the preseason, though was not part of Monday’s first-half rotation.

When George can rejoin that process is to be determined. But as the visitors’ locker room cleared out Monday, one word from Kelly Oubre Jr. was fitting.

He was technically reacting to the pestering of a nearby Martin and Kyle Lowry. But it could be applied to any external panic swelling around George’s hyperextended knee.

“Chill,” Oubre said.