The vibes were high entering the Sixers’ preseason opener Monday vs. the New York Knicks, but the excitement was quickly dampened.
Ariel Hukporti, starting while Joel Embiid sits out, appeared to hurt his leg early in the first quarter while attempting to contest Karl-Anthony Towns. The former Knick seemed to know it was bad right away, telling his teammates to call a timeout. He was helped to the locker room without putting any weight on his right leg.
This is potentially a huge blow for the Sixers. The team signed Hukporti on the second day of free agency to compete for backup big minutes behind Embiid. With Adem Bona already out with a foot sprain, it felt like a big opportunity to establish himself. The 24-year-old big man showed out during the Blue X White Scrimmage over the weekend and was off to a nice start Monday.
With Embiid sitting, Bona still nursing his injury, Dominick Barlow out with a back issue and Exhibit 10 signee Tacko Fall dealing with a hip strain, Jabari Walker was the only player active who resembled a center. Nick Nurse even experiemnted with using Dean Wade as a small-ball five.
Update: 9:37 p.m. ET: After the game Nick Nurse didn’t have an update on Hukporti, but the information he did provide was not encouraging. Nurse told reporters that Hukporti will go in for imaging Tuesday, and they are looking at his right achilles.
If it indeed is the worst case scenario, the Sixers are going to have a hard time replacing him for the season. As Derek Bodner of PHLY pointed out, the Sixers could get a Disabled Player Exception, but they wouldn’t really be able to use it because they’re still hard capped at the first apron. Basically, the only big the Sixers could add before December would have to be a two-way contract.