UPDATE: As feared but also expected, the Philadelphia 76ers have confirmed that center Ariel Hukporti tore his right Achilles just five minutes into the first preseason game and now will miss the entire 2026-27 season.
As detailed below, this leaves the 76ers in a difficult spot. Joel Embiid is going to play limited minutes this season even in the best case scenario, and now his only traditional center backup is Adem Bona, who is dealing with a foot sprain. Because they are close to a first apron hard cap, Philadelphia cannot simply add another free agent big until early December without making another move to clear cap space.
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This looks terrible.
Ariel Hukporti leaves the game after suffering a non-contact injury. pic.twitter.com/IRjPYGhfYA
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) October 5, 2026
Philadelphia reserve center Ariel Hukporti is undergoing imaging on his right leg after going down five minutes into the team’s first preseason game with a non-contact injury. The imaging is focused on his Achilles, and while nothing is official yet, 76ers beat writers reported after the game that the team feared the worst.
VJ Edgecombe on Ariel Hukporti: “It’s sad to see anybody go down… I’m just praying… I don’t know what it is yet, I’m just praying that it’s something that won’t have him, mentally, get down on himself… That’s the most important thing: just him making sure he’s happy.”
— Adam Aaronson (@SixersAdam) October 6, 2026
Hukporti played his first two seasons in New York — he is going to get a ring — before coming to Philadelphia this summer as one of the reserves for Joel Embiid at center, signing a one-year, $3.4 million deal in Philly. Hukporti was going to see a lot of run this preseason with the team limiting Joel Embiid’s play and the other reserve center, Adem Bona, dealing with a foot sprain.
Look for the 76ers to explore ways to land another backup center (while they have Tacko Fall in camp on an Exhibit 10 deal, he is not the answer). The problem is Philadelphia is hard-capped at the first apron and is just $1.4 million below that number, so it can’t even sign a veteran minimum player until early December. It could force the front office to make a cost-cutting move it didn’t really want to (cutting the non-guaranteed deal of Jabari Parker, for example, but the 76ers have liked how he played in camp). The more likely outcome is the 76ers try to tough it out until December with the guys they have.
Don’t be surprised if, during the preseason, coach Nick Nurse experiments with a lot of small lineups, just to see how that may work.
