PJ Tucker Discusses Health Status Going Into Celtics Matchup

Sixers veteran PJ Tucker is feeling good, but not quite one-hundred percent going into the Boston matchup.

Before the Philadelphia 76ers fired up their training camp in Charleston, South Carolina, the organization revealed their new free agency acquisition PJ Tucker underwent surgery in the offseason.

According to team officials, Tucker had an arthroscopic procedure on his left knee weeks before camp. On media day, Tucker was cleared for on-court activities and was given the green light to begin training camp on time without limitations.

"It was a late summer, ten-minute procedure," said Daryl Morey in late September. "He's already back on the floor, and we're excited." 

After participating at camp for a week, Tucker got the night off for Philly's preseason opener against the Brooklyn Nets. Two nights later, he made his Sixers debut in a home matchup against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Tucker went on to participate in the Sixers' final three preseason games. He averaged 19 minutes on the floor, putting up two points per game, and coming down with three rebounds per game.

Since he's a seasoned veteran, Tucker didn't need to play many minutes in the preseason. Therefore, he was limited by default. However, going into the team's first regular season battle on Tuesday, Tucker admitted that getting back to one hundred percent is still a work in progress.

"It's been pretty good. Just every week, I'm trying to get better and get stronger," said the veteran. "I'm still not one hundred percent yet, but it's a work in progress to get there, and it's been good."

Although Tucker's been a full-go at Sixers practice, the coaching staff understands his battle to get back to one hundred percent. Following Philadelphia's final practice session before the regular season opener in Boston, Doc Rivers assessed where Tucker is at physically.

"Only when he gets beat off the dribble he blames his knee," Rivers joked. "No, I think it's gonna take time. He's in really good shape overall, but in his mind, he needs to be in better condition because of the fact that he didn't have the chance to run when you have a surgery like that. It was minor, but he still is working on that. His timing, honestly, is pretty good." 

Tucker's knee injury lingered throughout the 2021-2022 NBA season when he was competing with the Miami Heat. Even though those issues resulted in an offseason surgery, which might've created a challenging obstacle to start this year, Tucker is happy to get the physical setbacks behind him.

"It's just progressively getting as strong as possible," Tucker finished. "It's still better than it was last year. I was playing with it all year last year. I'm just getting back to normal, and it's gonna take time."

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.