76ers star Paul George suffers hyperextended left knee

Philadelphia 76ers star Paul George suffered a hyperextended left knee in the second quarter of Monday’s preseason win in Atlanta and didn’t return.

“Hopefully it’ll be OK, so he’s back with us right away,” 76ers coach Nick Nurse told reporters after the game.

George, playing in his second preseason game with the 76ers after signing a four-year max contract as a free agent this offseason, was defending Hawks forward Jalen Johnson on a drive with a little over eight minutes to go in the second quarter when his left leg planted awkwardly and bent at an odd angle.

He quickly exited the game and didn’t return, with the team ruling George out for the remainder of the evening in the second half.

“I felt that it hyperextended, and immediately it was, all right, I need to get taken out and (looked at), but if you ask me, I’m not too concerned about it,” George told The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Philadelphia had already ruled out Joel Embiid for the rest of the preseason Sunday, as the star center continues to ramp up his conditioning and activity levels to be ready for next week’s regular-season opener at home against the Milwaukee Bucks on Oct. 23. Embiid suffered a left knee injury last season that limited him to 39 games.

The 76ers were already planning to be cautious with the health of both George and Embiid this season, with president of basketball operations Daryl Morey telling ESPN that both stars will “probably not play many back-to-backs, if any.”

And for all of the attention on Embiid’s injury history — he has missed 204 games over the past eight seasons and sat out his first two years in the NBA with foot injuries — the 74 games George played last season in his final year with the Clippers were his most since 2019 and came after he’d played no more than 56 games in each of his prior four seasons in Los Angeles.