A Philadelphia 76ers All-Star has made a surprising health revelation for the club ahead of the 2025-26 NBA season.
Philadelphia has been plagued by the injury bug for virtually its entire run with seven-time All-Star center Joel Embiid. The seven-footer out of Kansas missed the first two full seasons of his pro career with injuries, and things have taken a regressive turn for him recently.
Embiid played just 19 games in 2024-25, and wrapped up the year undergoing his second knee surgery in as many seasons. In 2023-24, the 31-year-old big man missed the middle of the season recovering from a surgery to address a lateral meniscus issue in his left knee.
Will the Sixers ever get it together?
Last year, hot off a three-season, $193 million extension with zero injury clauses for no discernible reason, Embiid admitted that he was dealing with lingering knee pain, and ultimately got a scope on the same left knee in April.
2024-25 was supposed to be Philadelphia’s year.
On paper, at least, the 76ers were fielding one of the most talented rosters of the Embiid era, at least since their loaded 2018-19 squad (featuring Embiid, future Hall of Famer Jimmy Butler, then-All-Star Ben Simmons, and sharpshooter JJ Redick, all at the peak of their powers) pushed the eventual champion Toronto Raptors to a hard-fought seven-game second-round playoff series.
New blockbuster signing Paul George signed a maximum deal to ditch his hometown (well, semi-hometown) L.A. Clippers and link up with All-Stars Tyrese Maxey and Embiid, the latter of whom at the time was just a year removed from being named the league’s MVP.
Team president Daryl Morey had outfitted the club with plenty of intriguing veteran depth around that core triumvirate.
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Instead, Philadelphia collapsed, ultimately missing the playoffs entirely. There is a bit of a happy caveat to this fate, however: the 76ers lucked into the No. 3 pick in this past June’s NBA draft, which they used on Baylor Bears guard V.J. Edgecombe.
Second-year Philadelphia guard Jared McCain, who in his rookie season was beset by health problems like many of his older teammates, is expected to be back healthy, too.
During a new chat with streamer IShowSpeed, George had a surprisingly sunny outlook for Philadelphia’s upside this season.
“We look good bro. Yeah, we look straight, we healthy.”
– Paul George (via HouseOfHighlights/Tiktok) pic.twitter.com/gnRVepN4WZ
— Philly Sixers Galaxy (@sixers_galaxy) September 3, 2025
“We look good bro,” George said. “We look straight, we healthy.” IShowSpeed promptly asked him when the season starts.
The streamer’s ignorance of the NBA in general had been on display from the jump.
When he and George first met up for a chat, IShowSpeed legitimately had no idea that the Palmdale, California native was a player on the Philadelphia 76ers.
Keep in mind, the nine-time All-Star had very famously inked a four-year, $211.6 million deal just last summer to join the club, and the team had infamously gone from championship aspirations to lottery slumming in 2024-25 thanks to injuries and chemistry problems.
IShowSpeed: “You from Philly?”
Paul George: “HELL NAH”
IShowSpeed: “What you in Philly for?”
Paul George: “I play here.” 😂Thoughts on this interaction? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/dX6NbPZVCp
— Courtside Buzz (@CourtsideBuzzX) September 2, 2025
“So you from Philly?” IShowSpeed asked.
“Hell nah,” George replied. “I’m from Cali.”
“You from Cali? What you in Philly for?” IShowSpeed, still very much not getting it, inquired.
“I play here,” a stunned George clarified.
“Oh that’s right, that’s right,” IShowSpeed said. “I thought you was from Philly. I thought you had history in Philly.”
The only history he has in Philadelphia isn’t particularly positive, yet.
In 2024-25, George had his worst-scoring full season since 2011-12 (we’re not counting the six games he played in 2014-15), averaging just 16.2 points on .430/.358/.814 and looking nothing like the All-Defensive perimeter threat he had been during his athletic prime with the Indiana Pacers. He missed half the season with adductor and knee injuries, and quietly underwent a knee surgery this summer.
Maxey missed 30 games of his own last year, too, thanks to a sprained right finger.
So it’s a bit surprising to hear that everyone is supposedly healthy — especially since it was recently reported that George could miss the start of the season while recuperating from the knee surgery.
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