CAMDEN, N.J. — The avalanche of injuries suffered by the Philadelphia 76ers last year begat a slew of injury check-ins to start media day.
For most, Friday’s language was vague but broadly hopeful.
Joel Embiid is “on schedule” in the rehab from his latest knee surgery in April, though no one shared said schedule. Paul George’s road back from a knee procedure in July has him doing “pretty much everything but full contact.” Embiid played just 19 games last year, George 41 in his first season with the Sixers.
But a roster that featured 30 different players and a 24-58 record had much more wrong with it than just maladies at the top. And so the rehab rundown was voluminous.
Andre Drummond spent the summer doing toe yoga to strengthen a chronically balky digit that limited him to 40 games and 7.3 points per outing. In his 14th NBA season, Drummond feels confident he can be a more regular contributor as Embiid’s understudy.
“I’ve been doing a lot of toe yoga this summer to really just get that strength back in my big toe and being able to move it freely without having to tape it to get it to do what it’s supposed to do,” the ever affable big guy said. “If you don’t know what it is, look it up. It’s definitely not a fun experience. But it worked out for me.”
Eric Gordon’s season ended in February with a wrist injury, his campaign curtailed at 39 games and 6.8 points per game just as he appeared to be regaining a shooting touch that abandoned him in the fall. He had surgery but was able to resume basketball activities on a normal schedule in the spring.
“In a couple of months after the surgery, I was able to shoot,” he said. “So I’ve been able to shoot all summer. Anytime you have a surgery, you’re always going to have ups and downs. But so far, everything’s been good. I’m looking forward to practice tomorrow with no real limitations.”
The 76ers declined an option on Gordon, then brought him back on a minimum contract, the 17-year veteran describing a sense of unfinished business.
A chronic hip injury limited Kyle Lowry to 35 games and 18.8 minutes per outing. But the Philly native and Villanova grad is back for his 20th NBA season as the hip “feels great.”
It will only need to be so for a minimized role, Lowry serving mainly as a mentor for a passel of young guards, in addition to a new gig as an analyst for Prime Video basketball telecasts.
“I feel really good,” Lowry said. “I think me being able to just be on the court to help these guys as best I can, but I know my role this year. If I’m needed, I’ll be there. But my role is to help these guys. I would love to play 25, 30 minutes, but that’s not my role. It’s not my job.”
Kelly Oubre, whose 60 games played last year was third-most on the team and most among returnees, underwent offseason therapy on fingers on his left hand that had been previously operated on to increase strength and range of motion.
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Two absences from media day were formally revealed a day earlier.
Jared McCain tore a ligament in his right thumb at a workout Thursday. The club offered no timeline or course of treatment for the second-year guard.
“He’s still consulting with specialists,” President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey said, adding that McCain’s injury “couldn’t have been more fluky.” “… We know Jared is going to attack this just like he did the last one and be back even better.”
McCain was not among the 16 players to speak to the media Friday.
He played 23 games (eight starts) last year before tearing the meniscus in his left knee in December. Surgery to repair that ended his rookie season. He was the 16th overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft.
“I feel for him,” Tyrese Maxey said. “Coming back from his knee injury, he’s worked his tail off to get where he is today. But the thing about Jared is he’s a positive person. He works extremely hard, so he’ll be back extremely soon, and I know he’ll get 100% healthy.”
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Also absent and excluded from the training camp roster was Quentin Grimes. The guard, acquired in February from Dallas, has until Oct. 1 to decide to accept or decline a one-year qualifying offer for $8.7 million.
Grimes is unlikely to accept the offer, which includes full no-trade protection. The 76ers can sign him at a higher rate for one season, which would allow the option to trade him at the deadline, or they can negotiate a longer-term deal, though the sides remain far apart on compensation, per reports.
“I think we will get to a resolution in the next few days, hopefully,” Morey said. “But we’re excited to bring him back, and he’s a big part of what we’re trying to do, now and into the future.”
Grimes averaged 21.9 points in 28 games last year. The absence of McCain heightens his value in a backcourt that will also include Maxey and No. 3 overall pick VJ Edgecombe. Morey has consistently expressed a desire to retain Grimes’ services.
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Oubre drew attention this month for an Instagram comment on a fan account post opining on the possibility of trading the 29-year-old swingman, who is in the final year of his contract.
Oubre lamented in the comment that “the love doesn’t seem to be reciprocated” by the city toward him after two seasons here.
“I’m not going to apologize for the things that I say, because nobody’s going to do the same to me,” Oubre said Friday. “But at the end of the day, it was just an accumulation of lack thereof discussion or kind of exing me out of the equation. I’m here, I’m all in. I wear this jersey for a reason, because I want to. So it was just kind of the fan pages and all the people who represent the Sixers — not in this building, of course — it was something to just let you guys know that I’m still here. And I’m not here to fit in. I’m here to stand out and help this team the best that I possibly can.”
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Good news for the medical professionals that the 76ers have on retainer: Players have been scrimmaging in Camden for the last two or three weeks, and they’ve been playing with no fouls called. Which, given the team’s injury history, is great?
Oubre, in his typically creative ways, called it “footsketball-ish.”
“When I got back here, we’ve been playing pickup with no fouls, so I learned the hard way coming back,” Drummond said. “So I think the intensity and the toughness is being built right now. I think it’s going to surprise a lot of teams, too, just the way that we play. … I think our new style of play is going to be very good for our team. And I’m really looking forward to playing against somebody else instead of beating up of my own teammates.”
“When I was in there, we’ve just been hacking, just been fouling,” Justin Edwards said. “And they haven’t been calling it. So, I feel like we need that, honestly, playing through fouls, just being tougher.”