Ariel Hukporti Tore His Achilles and Joel Embiid Has No Real Backup Center in Philadelphia

The Philadelphia 76ers lost backup center Ariel Hukporti for the 2026-27 season after an MRI confirmed a ruptured right Achilles tendon, an injury he suffered less than five minutes into Monday's preseason opener against the New York Knicks. There was no contact on the play. Hukporti stepped out to guard Karl-Anthony Towns at the three-point line, planted his right foot to close out on a jumper, stopped, reached for his ankle and went down. Surgery is the next step, and the team has ruled him out for the year.

The 24-year-old signed a one-year deal worth roughly $3.4 million in July after two seasons with the Knicks. He was brought in for one job: soak up the minutes Joel Embiid does not play. That job is now open again, a week into the preseason and two weeks before Philadelphia opens the regular season against those same Knicks on October 20.

It is also the second time Hukporti has gone through this. He ruptured his left Achilles during the 2022 preseason while playing for Melbourne United in Australia's NBL.

A frontcourt that was already thin

The timing is bad because the rest of the center room is either hurt or undersized. Adem Bona, who held the backup job for most of last season, has not practiced in camp because of a left foot sprain he suffered with Turkiye during FIBA World Cup qualifiers this summer. The team had targeted a return within the first two weeks of camp, and it still hopes to have him at some point in the preseason, but he has not been cleared yet. Tacko Fall, in camp on an Exhibit 10 deal, was diagnosed with a left hip strain on October 1 and was set to be reevaluated in about two weeks.

That leaves Dominick Barlow, Jabari Walker and Dean Wade as the healthy bodies behind Embiid. All three are forwards. Nick Nurse has praised Walker as the team's best defensive rebounder in the past, and Walker started last season on a two-way deal before forcing his way into the rotation, but none of the three is a natural five.

Roster flexibility is limited. Philadelphia is hard-capped at the first apron, which rules out an expensive patch, and the most realistic external answers are a minimum-salary veteran now or the buyout market after the February trade deadline.

The rest of Monday night

The injury overshadowed a lopsided result. Philadelphia beat New York 120-97 with Embiid, LeBron James and Tyrese Maxey all sitting out as planned rest. Jaylen Brown made his unofficial Sixers debut and scored 22 points in 17 first-half minutes, then did not need to return. VJ Edgecombe and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope also played in the opener.

Nothing about the result changes how the starting five looks on October 20: Maxey, Edgecombe, Brown, James and Embiid. What it changes is the stretch of every game when the starting center sits, and the larger number of nights Embiid does not play at all.

Fantasy fallout: Embiid's minutes and the waiver question

The first-order effect is on Embiid. Nurse said at the start of camp that Embiid's workload will be closely managed this season and that the staff is already planning around back-to-backs for him and James. That plan does not change because the backup got hurt. If anything, Philadelphia has more reason to protect the one healthy true center it has. Drafters should not expect a bump in Embiid's nightly minutes, and they should still expect scheduled absences.

Embiid entered camp as a full participant with no restrictions for the first time in years, after playing just 38 regular-season games in 2025-26. His per-game ceiling remains among the highest at the position. The Hukporti news does not move his draft price much in either direction, but it does raise the cost of his absences: on nights he sits, Philadelphia will be playing small or playing Bona at less than full speed, and that matters for anyone streaming against the Sixers.

The second-order effect is on the backups. Adem Bona is the name to know. If his foot clears before the opener, he is the only healthy player on the roster who can credibly hold the five, and a backup center on a team with Embiid's health history tends to get spot starts. In deep leagues and points formats that reward rebounds and blocks, he is worth a final-round pick or a watch-list spot. In standard 12-team leagues, wait to see him practice.

Jabari Walker and Dominick Barlow are not draftable in standard formats, but small-ball minutes at center can produce useful rebounding lines. Walker is the more interesting of the two if Nurse leans on rebounding over spacing.

The Verdexed angle

The fantasy read is simple: Embiid's value is unchanged, Philadelphia's floor on nights he sits got lower, and the cheapest way to profit is to monitor Bona rather than chase him. Drafting a backup center on a team that may sign a veteran within days is a weak use of a pick when that same player will be on waivers in most leagues.

The more useful angle is on the opponent side. On Embiid rest nights, Philadelphia will likely be starting a forward at center, which tends to open the glass for opposing bigs. Managers who stream centers in weekly or daily formats should circle Sixers back-to-backs on the schedule, because the opposing center on the second night is likely to face a smaller lineup.

For bettors, the market has not had a regular-season Sixers line yet, but this is the kind of depth issue that shows up in games Embiid misses rather than games he plays. Readers can follow the Verdexed preseason board at /nba/predictions as lines open.

What's next

Philadelphia's next decision is whether to fill the spot from outside. Bona's status is the swing factor: a clean return in the next week likely means the Sixers ride Bona and small ball into the opener, while a setback raises the odds of a minimum signing before October 20. Fall's reevaluation lands around mid-October as well.

For drafters, nothing here justifies moving Embiid in either direction. Watch the Sixers' practice reports for Bona, keep his name on the watch list, and if he is cleared before your draft, he becomes a reasonable last-round flier in deep leagues. Everyone else should treat Philadelphia's backup center job as a waiver-wire story, not a draft-day one.