Sixers’ Joel Embiid, Paul George Out Against Cavs

November 13, 2024

The 76ers will be missing all three stars in Wednesday night’s home game against the Cavaliers, per Shams Charania of ESPN.

Embiid and George both played in Philadelphia’s loss to the Knicks on Tuesday, and neither was expected to play in back-to-back games. So it appears the Sixers are sticking with that plan as the Cavs are aiming to improve to 13-0. If they do, they’ll be just the sixth team in NBA history to hit that mark.

Per Charania, Embiid and George are sitting out for “left knee injury management.” Embiid made his season debut against the Knicks after serving a three-game suspension for shoving a reporter in the locker room after a game.

Embiid scored 13 points in 26 minutes. George finished with 29 points, 10 rebounds and three assists in the loss.

Along with Embiid and George, the Sixers are missing All-Star shooting guard Tyrese Maxey, out with a hamstring injury. Philadelphia (2-8) has struggled mightily despite the offseason addition of George and other veterans, such as Caleb Martin, Andre Drummond, Reggie Jackson and Eric Gordon.

At any rate, Embiid indicated he would lobby to play against the Cavs. Clearly, he lost that fight.

“It’s all about confidence and trusting myself,” he told reporters. “Pushing off … I talked about it a couple weeks ago when I talked to you guys, that’s the mental hurdle that I got to get to. But I think I can still be pretty good even without that, which I’m going to get to at some point.

“I don’t know when. Might be next game, might be in two games … [but] usually get it back pretty fast, so I’m fine.”