76ers Make Early Call on Paul George's Status vs Celtics

Paul George missed the Philadelphia 76ers’ 2025 preseason run, which put his opening night status against the Boston Celtics in question.

While there have been plenty of positives regarding George lately, he has been ruled out against the Celtics on Wednesday night.

Heading into training camp, George made it clear that he wouldn’t be ready to play at the start of the preseason after he underwent a minor knee surgery, following an offseason workout injury.

Last week, George managed to get back out on the floor to begin ramping up ahead of the regular season. The Sixers made it clear that he wouldn’t debut alongside Joel Embiid for their preseason finale against the Minnesota Timberwolves. It was too early to trot him out.

While many hoped for a debut against the Boston Celtics on opening night, ESPN NBA Insider Shams Charania added caution to that idea, suggesting that George had a low chance of being ready for Boston.

"He still has some check marks he has to hit from his rehab process,” Charania said. “Remember, Paul George never got right last season after having a hyper-extended knee. He had multiple other knee injuries in the preseason, early in the year.”

Reporting for NBA Today on 76ers forward Paul George's status to begin the 2025-26 season: pic.twitter.com/qcWGz4OR1D
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) October 16, 2025

Late last week, Nick Nurse claimed that George has been looking good in practice, despite needing to get in better shape after going through a recovery process, rather than ramping up for the new year as he typically would.

"He's moving good. He needs to have some more conditioning and things, but he looked good,” Nurse explained.

“He's really pushing himself to get in shape. He, defensively, looked really good. He was really moving and such a good guy reading situations, being able to get back with his length and close out, handle close out situations, and really knows what he's doing on that end. He's making progress."

Progress is positive, but the Sixers don’t seem to be quite there yet with George. The veteran wing is still working his way back and targeting a later debut date than the rest of the team.

With Wednesday now out of the question, George could be eyeing a debut on Saturday night against the Charlotte Hornets. That’s when the Sixers return to Philadelphia to hold their home-opener for the season.

Last season, George found plenty of success against the Hornets. Overall, he struggled to stand out in year one with the Sixers. Playing in 41 games, George averaged 16.2 points, while shooting 43 percent from the field and knocking down 35 percent of his threes. He also came down with 5.3 rebounds per game, and passed out 4.3 assists per matchup.