CAMDEN, N.J. — As the Philadelphia 76ers continue to progress throughout the preseason and getting into practices, all eyes are on the injury status of Paul George and Joel Embiid. The two stars have not done much in practice as they both take their time and work their way back into the game itself after a slew of serious injuries.

However, on Thursday, George participated in some 1-on-1 work with the likes of Tyrese Maxey, Kelly Oubre Jr., and Justin Edwards as it appears he has taken another step forward in his progression. George was limited to 41 games in the 2024-25 season due to a variety of injuries and he had offseason arthroscopic knee surgery to fix that bothersome injury.

“Yeah, he is progressing,” Nurse explained. “They’re still working out some things. He did do some of the stuff early in practice as well today for the first time. So that’s also progression. So we’ll just keep on going.”

George is going to take his time as he continues to work his way back from a nightmarish season in 2024-25. The goal now for him is to get himself moving in the right direction. Nurse did add that the 9-time All-Star participated in some of practice, but no live stuff.

“Like, early stuff,” Nurse started. “Early stuff. Just with the team. Like 5-on-0 stuff, yeah, 5-on-0 stuff, but it’s been the first time for that. So, there’ll be boxes to check to keep it going.”

The Sixers do have two preseason games left on Friday against the Orlando Magic and then Oct. 17 against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Nurse was non-committal on George being ruled out or if he plays in either game.

“I wouldn’t say yes or no to any of that,” he stated. “I just don’t know. I think this was a step in the right direction and we’ll see how fast it comes along.”

As for Embiid, the Sixers stated on Wednesday that he is continuing to progress. He did practice on Wednesday, but his recovery time is going to be slow as Philadelphia looks for him to be near 100% and integrate him into everything it wants to do. He still has some boxes to check off.

“I just think he’s got to get to a point where they’re happy with amount of load he can take and the recovery part as well on top of it, and keep progressing that way,” Nurse said of Embiid. “I’m sure there’s strength issues, and all that kind of stuff, just to make sure that it’s responding to everything well. He did do 5-on-5. I think that’s what they told you yesterday, yeah, so again, progressing.”

While Embiid may not have done as much on Thursday as he did on Wednesday, Nurse did add that the big fella did something. It isn’t like he didn’t do anything at practice on Thursday. He just needs to be able to check off those boxes before he can progress to anything consistent in terms of the live stuff. So, while he has done 5-on-5 work recently, he just isn’t ready to do any of that consistently yet. He just has to continue to progress and get back on the floor.

“I think it’s continuing to move forward,” Nurse finished. “I think that was a starting point, right? Like, practice yesterday and again, he did things today. He didn’t do nothing today, right? So it’s he was out there today, again, for some of the 5-on-0 stuff, and some of the early stuff in practice. So again, we’re just kind of trying to keep moving along, depending on how they’re reacting to everything.”