The Philadelphia 76ers had been arguably essentially the most snakebitten staff within the NBA. It simply obtained worse.
Rookie guard Jared McCain, a prime candidate for Rookie of the Year honors, sustained a lateral meniscus tear in his left knee Friday and would require surgical procedure that knocks him out indefinitely, the Sixers introduced Saturday.
The actual second McCain sustained the meniscus tear is unclear. He did depart the sport towards the Indiana Pacers at one level, however that was due to a fall through which the again of his head bounced off the court docket.
Regardless, the lack of McCain is perhaps the worst blow but for the Sixers, who’ve struggled to get their core triumvirate of Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Paul George on the court docket collectively. The trio has performed in solely three video games collectively up to now in 2024-25, and Embiid is now coping with a sinus fracture that’s to be evaluated over the weekend. He has performed a complete of six video games all season.
The staff holds a file of 7-16, and McCain was a major motive why that file is not even worse. The sixteenth total decide of the 2024 NBA Draft leads all rookies in factors scored whereas taking pictures a powerful 38.3% from 3-point vary, setting quite a few milestones alongside the best way.
McCain had been beginning at level guard with Maxey out, however was largely coming off the bench in current video games. He was nonetheless an essential a part of the rotation, although, and changing him is not going to be simple, even when the staff has gotten used to enjoying short-handed.
As for Rookie of the Year, McCain was the odds-on favourite to take residence the award, which mirrored the productiveness of this season’s rookie class as a lot because the energy of McCain’s play. With McCain nearly definitely not enjoying sufficient video games to make a run on the award, the sector is now actually broad open.
Stephon Castle of the San Antonio Spurs, Dalton Knecht of the Los Angeles Lakers and Yves Missi of the New Orleans Pelicans all loom as prospects, however many extra rookies may develop into prime contenders with only one good month.
