Joel Embiid and Paul George are the ‘big concerns’ as Sixers look forward to uncertain future, Nick Nurse says

MIAMI — At some point, the 76ers are going to start thinking about next season.

But they still don’t know who they’re going to have on the roster or what the future is going to look like.

So how does Nick Nurse unpack all of that and deal with the uncertainty?

“Well, I think that the biggest thing is obviously going to be on the health of these guys and how quickly we can get them back on the floor, working at their game, right?” Nurse said before Monday’s game against the Miami Heat at Kaseya Center.

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Joel Embiid will undergo arthroscopic surgery this week to help with his ailing left knee. Meanwhile, Paul George received injections in the left adductor muscle in his groin and his left knee on March 17. Embiid was ruled out for the remainder of the season on Feb. 28. George was ruled out for the rest of the season after the injections.

Both perennial All-Stars endured woeful seasons as they lacked their normal burst. The big question heading into the summer: Can they regain their old dominant form?

Jared McCain (left knee meniscus surgery) and Eric Gordon (right wrist surgery) were also shut down for the remainder of the season. Several other players, including Tyrese Maxey (sprained right finger), have been out for an extended period.

“There’s, obviously, a good number of them that need to get taken care of, get back to health, but obviously, Joel and Paul will be the big concerns,” Nurse said. “Can they get back and get ready to go?

“And I guess we won’t find that out for a little while, and then you start unpacking and then you get back to thinking there’s some really, really good players there and start piecing it together and then we get ready to build out the rest of the roster around them.”

George, who played in 41 games, averaged 16.2 points, the fourth-lowest average of his 15 NBA seasons, after signing a four-year, $211.5 million maximum-salary contract in July to form a Big Three with Embiid and Maxey.

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Embiid played in just 19 games this season. His averages of 23.8 points and 8.2 rebounds were the fourth- and second-lowest, respectively, in his nine NBA seasons. He also shot career lows from the field (44.4%) and on three-pointers (29.9%).

Embiid’s procedure will mark his second surgery on the knee in 14 months and his third in nine seasons.