CAMDEN, NJ — Sixers head coach Nick Nurse sat down after his team’s practice on Tuesday knowing the first question he would be asked.
What is the status of Paul George, who hyperextended his left knee during Monday night’s preseason victory?
“PG is here today,” Nurse said. “[He got his knee] looked at again. Everything checked out okay. We are going to do further imaging this afternoon to see if there’s anything else, but in good spirits today. Just here today, a number of the vets didn’t practice today.”
Nurse said he cannot offer any sort of timeline until after the imaging on George’s knee takes place.
“He obviously won’t play tomorrow night, but he was never going to play tomorrow night anyway, as with a number of our guys. That was always on the schedule that way.”
Nurse’s update comes as the second straight positive report on George, who after Monday’s game told Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer that he was “not too concerned.”
Chatted with Paul George in the postgame locker room. He had a sleeve on the knee but was walking and said he is “not too concerned” about the prognosis. Will get treatment on it tonight and proceed from there. More coming later.
— Gina Mizell (@ginamizell) October 15, 2024
• Nurse on Monday night’s starting lineup change, which saw Eric Gordon replace Caleb Martin in the starting five:
“Just experimenting a bit. [Martin] is going to give us some energy off the bench, which I thought we lacked in the previous games, so we’re trying to solve that equation a little bit. It splits up Kyle [Lowry] and Eric, which is also part of the plan. Just kind of maneuvering through different looks. And I think it’ll be pretty fluid as we go for a while.”
• Nurse on what has stood out to him about George’s play through a pair of preseason games:
“He’s a bucket-maker… He’s been really good, man. He’s very good defensively in a lot of ways. He’s a really smart team defender. He’s smart on the ball. I’ve been impressed with his willingness to rebound on both ends… He’s been incredible as far as the practices, really attentive, really focused, does every single little, little, little thing we ask him to do on every rep, every possession.”
• Nurse on the value of being able to play George at three different positions, which he has already done in two preseason games:
“First of all, it is valuable. There’s a lot of things he can do… You can do a lot with him. He can handle. He can set. He can, obviously, space and shoot. He can play one-on-one, he can play pick-and-roll. I know he can play in the mid-post area… I don’t really know who was playing the two, the three or the four last night when we have all the three wings out there.”
The Sixers will be back in action on Wednesday night when they host the Brooklyn Nets in their penultimate preseason game. Nurse seemed to indicate many of the team’s veterans will be in street clothes for the game.
