By Zach Ciavolella

‘Twas the night before the Sixers‘ regular season debut, and as the team made their way to Boston, the first official injury report of the new campaign was released Tuesday evening. While several were confirmed to miss the upcoming game, one name was absent, signally across the league that Joel Embiid was back and ready to take the court.

Sixers injury report update:

OUT: Trendon Watford (left hamstring tightness), Paul George (left knee injury recovery), Jared McCain (right thumb surgery recovery)

Joel Embiid, at this moment, is good to go for opening night.

— Zach Ciavolella (@ciavo.bsky.social) October 21, 2025 at 5:35 PM

After being limited to just 19 games in 2024-25 and facing questions that, at their worst, asked if Embiid would ever be a meaningful contributor again, Embiid will get his first meaningful chance to prove himself after insisting on and undergoing an arthroscopic procedure on his left knee in April.

Embiid has seemed increasingly more likely to be ready for the start of the season, playing in both the team’s Blue x White scrimmage earlier this month and in the team’s preseason finale last week.

While Embiid is set to make his season debut, the same cannot be said for nine-time All-Star Paul George, free agent acquisition Trendon Watford, and Jared McCain, who continues to recover after suffering a torn UCL in his right thumb. All three players will miss the team’s opening game.

It’s not a surprise that both players are unavailable for this matchup. Last week, head coach Nick Nurse was honest about the possibility of George playing in the season opener being unlikely. Neither George nor Watford appears far off from rejoining the team. Both have participated in practice throughout the week. However, Watford is only a partial participant in practice, at least to begin the week.

McCain has been open about the hardship of once again missing time when he’d hoped to be returning from a torn meniscus that ended his rookie season prematurely. The young Sixer is expected to be re-evaluated in the next week, give or take a day.

As for Boston, two players made their way to the injury report. Jayson Tatum was one of them, of course, as was Jaylen Brown, who is questionable for the game due to a left hamstring strain that he had suffered earlier during the preseason. Brown was reportedly a full participant in the team’s practice on Tuesday, so there remains a good chance he takes the court.