Philadelphia 76ers All-Star Paul George underwent a left knee MRI on Thursday that revealed no structural damage, according to Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports.
George, who suffered a scary-looking left knee hyperextension in Wednesday night’s 117-111 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, has been diagnosed with a left knee bone bruise and will be re-evaluated by the team on Monday. This means that George will miss at least the 76ers’ next two games in Philadelphia against the Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Clippers.
The more concerning aspect of this injury is that George missed the team’s first five games of the season due to a hyperextension in the same knee. There has been no confirmation from the team if the previous injury and George returning before he had enough time to heal influenced this new knee injury.
Wednesday marked the first time that George, Tyrese Maxey, and Joel Embiid took the court together all season due to a variety of injures to all three All-Stars. Unfortunately, this trio did not spend a whole lot of time together due to Maxey’s hamstring injury still bothering him and George leaving the game in the third quarter.
After the loss, 76ers head coach Nick Nurse appeared to be optimistic about George’s injury despite it being the same one he had been dealing with for weeks prior to his return.
“Yeah, so it was a hyperextension, similar to the preseason and on the same knee,” Nurse told reporters, via ClutchPoints’ Sixers reporter Sa DiGiovanni. “I think maybe we’re going to find out a little bit more tomorrow and when they check it out to see what the extent of it is. But that’s what it was… I think they said it was similar to the last time, which was a bone bruise, I think.
Related Philadelphia 76ers NewsArticle continues below
“He was actually fairly close to coming back in the game, but then it kind of stiffened up as he was out [of the game] a little bit more. So we decided not to, and now we got to take a look at it and make sure [he’s alright].”
With George set to miss the next two games, the 76ers, who find themselves 2-12 on the season, will face even more pressure to pick up their third victory of the season against the Nets on Friday. Injury concerns revolving around Maxey and Embiid also loom large over this franchise.
The 76ers will provide further updates on Paul George’s status moving forward when his knee injury is re-evaluated on Monday.