The 76ers are using Joel Embiid and Paul George for “injury management” against the first-place Cavs

The Philadelphia 76ers are following their plan.

Joel Embiid and Paul George are both out for Wednesday's game against the Cleveland Cavaliers due to “left knee injury treatment.”

Their status appears to confirm a plan from basketball president Daryl Morey, who said in the offseason: “Paul and Joel probably.” [will] “Don't play back-to-back often, if at all.” George and Embiid both played in Tuesday's loss to the New York Knicks.

The 76ers will also be without All-Star guard Tyrese Maxey, who will be sidelined for several weeks with a hamstring injury. The Cavaliers are looking to improve on their 12-0 start to the season.

The 76ers fell to 2-8 with Tuesday's loss to the Knicks, which continues to raise questions about their playoff viability just 10 games into the season. They sit in 14th place out of 15 teams in the Eastern Conference, one game ahead of the Toronto Raptors at 2-10.

Embiid will sit out one game after his season debut. He missed the first six games of the season with what the team described as a “left knee injury.” He then missed Games 7 through 9 due to an NBA suspension for shoving a reporter.

George missed the first five games of the season after suffering a bone bruise in his knee in the preseason. Since then, he has appeared in five 76ers games and had 29 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and three steals in Tuesday's game against the Knicks. It was his best game since joining the 76ers and he showed no signs of trouble with his once-injured knee.

Embiid was sluggish in his first live basketball appearance since competing in the Summer Olympics and showed signs of not being in game shape yet. It's not clear whether he's directly dealing with ongoing problems with his left knee, which required surgery and sidelined him for a significant portion of last season.

He reiterated Morey's stance in the offseason that he likely won't play in back-to-back games.

“If I had to guess, I would probably never play back-to-back games for the rest of my career,” Embiid said in October, according to ESPN.

Are absences consistent with the NBA's player participation policy?

The NBA introduced rules in 2023 aimed at sparing star players the burden when they are not injured. Teams will be assessed fines for various violations of the policy. These include prohibiting teams from sitting multiple star players in the same game unless they are injured and resting star players during nationally televised games.

The NBA opened an investigation into Embiid's absences earlier this season as he was not sidelined by an injury other than “knee treatment.” The NBA fined the 76ers $100,000 for public statements “that were inconsistent with Joel Embiid's medical condition and violated NBA rules.”

The league determined that Embiid was “unfit to play” and that his absences did not violate the league’s player participation guidelines.