We've been back a little over a week and already the Sixers are Sixers-ing. The entire Philadelphia fan base saw the hopeful season flash before their eyes when Paul George left Monday's preseason game against Atlanta with a knee injury. Luckily, George was only diagnosed with a bone bruise, and it doesn't look like the star free agent signing will miss much of the regular season. Sixers fans can now summon existential fear over George's knee injury in addition to the underlying fear over Joel Embiid's knee injury and move on.

Tonight, in the only preseason game against NBA competition in Philadelphia this fall, the Sixers face a Brooklyn Nets team projected to be at the bottom of the standings. The Nets are in full rebuild mode after trading Sixer Mikal Bridges to the five boroughs for a bushel of draft picks for about 20 minutes. However, unlike many rebuilding teams, the Nets don't have any high-profile rookies they want to develop since they had no 2024 draft picks.

One man Brooklyn is hoping to bring back is Ben Simmons, the Sixers' former first-over pick. Simmo the Savage played in two preseason games this month after returning from a back injury and had 11 points and two assists in 13 minutes against Washington earlier this week. While I still laugh at the annual “Simmons shoots jumpers at practice” videos that pop up every year, I really hope that the back situation is behind him and he can get back on the court regularly.

There aren't many interesting long-term players on the Nets roster. Nic Claxton was re-signed this offseason to a four-year, $97 million contract with a descending pay scale, making one wonder how eager they are to present him as a trade partner down the road. Cam Thomas is going to have a lot of success heading into restricted free agency this year. Veterans like Bojan Bogdanovic, Dorian Finney-Smith and Dennis Schroder will almost certainly be moved by the trade deadline; DFS is a guy that Sixers fans have been keeping an eye on for about a year. Former 10th overall pick Ziaire Williams may be the most interesting guy coming out of Memphis in a trade this offseason to me.

Anyway, it's good not to be a Brooklyn fan right now. As for our Sixers, hopefully the George knee situation was just the minor scare it seems to be at the moment and we can get back to less frightening speculation. Like… What do we think about Eric Gordon with the starters? Will Guerschon Yabusele end up in the final lineup? How much can rookie Jared McCain contribute in his rookie season? We have time tonight and Friday in Orlando to sort out those thoughts before things really get going next Wednesday against Milwaukee.

Let's enjoy some exhibition basketball and chime in in the comments.

Game details

WHO: Philadelphia 76ers vs. Brooklyn Nets
When: 7:00 p.m. ET
Where: The Center, Philadelphia, PA
Regard: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic
Consequences: @LibertyBallers