Well, it’s now officially the Philadelphia 76ers season… our first injury drama of 2024-2025!

Sixers’ highly anticipated star duo Joel Embiid and Paul George will both miss the team’s season opener on Wednesday night against the Milwaukee Bucks. Embiid has also been ruled out for Friday and will be re-evaluated this weekend, according to the team.

Rookie Jared McCain, who suffered a lung contusion after a heavy fall against the Nets last Wednesday, is making good progress. The team will determine its status on Tuesday evening.

The team also said George is recovering well after suffering a bone bruise in his left knee during a preseason game on Oct. 14. His return to play will be assessed later in the week. That all makes sense and is honestly what most people expected from the team today.

However, the Embiid update is a bit more annoying for a fan simply because of the lack of clear information. The Sixers center competed for Team USA in the Paris Olympics last summer, with the final against France held on August 10. Recent weeks have brought announcements from the team and coach Nick Nurse that the Sixers were being cautious and slowing him down for the season so he wouldn’t participate in preseason games. Okay, sure. Embiid then told ESPN that, if he had to guess, he would “probably never play back-to-backs for the rest of (his) career.” That honestly makes sense. The franchise, from Daryl Morey to Nurse, has all been a part of this new normal for Embiid in recent weeks.

But the confirmation that he will miss not only the season opener, but also the first two games of the season is already a bit worrying. The team says he is “responding well to his individualized plan and is expected to ramp up his return to playing activities this week, including scrimmaging.” All well and good, but is he injured or not? If he’s not injured, why hasn’t he stepped up his scrimmages this past week to be ready for opening night? It makes sense not to play preseason games or force back-to-backs in the future keep a man who is healthy…not playing regular season games sends the message that he is not healthy to start with. So what exactly is going on?

I don’t expect to ever get all the information about a player on a team. There is of course a strategy where you release information. But I sympathize with the fans who are reading this right now and are scratching their heads wondering what the heck is happening behind closed doors with the Sixers.

The Sixers tip off against the Bucks without Embiid and George on Wednesday night at 7:30 PM ET.