The MRI Came Back: Ariel Hukporti’s Season Is Over Before It Started

PHILADELPHIA — Tuesday brought the answer everybody in Philadelphia was dreading. The MRI on Ariel Hukporti’s right Achilles came back showing a rupture, and the 76ers announced that their new backup center will undergo surgery later today and miss the entire 2026-27 season — five minutes into his first game in a Sixers uniform.

The diagnosis was first reported by ESPN’s Shams Charania and then confirmed by the team in a medical update, with Reuters, PhillyVoice and the Sixers Wire (USA Today) all carrying the confirmation by midday. This morning’s notebook left you with exactly one open question — the imaging. It has now been answered, and it is the worst case.

The play that ended a season

It happened with 7:06 left in the first quarter of Monday’s 120-97 preseason win over the Knicks — the defending champions, and Hukporti’s old team. Guarding former teammate Karl-Anthony Towns, Hukporti crumpled on a non-contact play and immediately grabbed the back of his lower right leg. Towns helped him to his feet and stayed with him as the medical staff came over, and Hukporti leaned on his old teammate’s shoulder for the walk back. He never returned. His final line as an active Sixer: five minutes, one missed shot, one assist.

After the game, Nick Nurse told reporters the imaging would happen Tuesday and made no attempt to dress it up. “He’s been a joy to coach in the short time he’s been here,” Nurse said. “Really a good dude. So, we’ll just hope for the best.”

The locker room said the rest. Forward Jabari Walker, who stepped into the bigger role the moment Hukporti went down and finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds, called him “like my brother.” Rookie VJ Edgecombe put the human part plainly: “It’s sad to see anybody go down… I’m just praying that it’s something that won’t have him, mentally, get down on himself… him making sure he’s happy, that’s the most important thing.”

A second Achilles, and a first impression cut short

What makes this one land harder: it is not Hukporti’s first dance with this injury. Four years ago, playing for Melbourne United in Australia, he tore his left Achilles and missed the entire season. He rebuilt himself, got drafted 58th overall by the Knicks in 2024, carved out 79 appearances across two seasons (2.1 points, 2.7 rebounds in 9.1 minutes a night), and earned a championship ring last spring as New York’s third center behind Towns and Mitchell Robinson.

Philadelphia signed him in July to a one-year, $3.4 million deal — the backup-center solution behind Embiid, who has missed 150 games over the last three seasons. Just last week, Hukporti told reporters he was eager to show off skills his brief NBA cameos hadn’t revealed yet. One week of camp, five minutes of preseason, and the season is gone.

There was one ugly sidebar worth noting: on Monday night, The Athletic briefly published a report that Hukporti had torn the Achilles, then pulled it and noted the story had been published inadvertently. It was a reminder — and a credit to the rest of the Sixers beat — to wait for the imaging before writing the obituary on a season. The imaging is now in. The season is the casualty.

What Philadelphia does now

The depth chart behind Embiid, in order: Adem Bona, who has yet to practice this camp because of a left foot sprain suffered playing for Turkey this summer (the team says a reevaluation is imminent); Jabari Walker, who looked like a real rotation piece Monday with 11 points, 11 rebounds and 3-of-5 shooting from deep; Dominick Barlow; and 7-foot-5 Tacko Fall, in camp on an Exhibit 10 deal, currently sidelined himself with a left hip sprain and due to be reevaluated in about two weeks.

That is a thin room, and the Sixers cannot simply go shopping. They are hard-capped at the first apron and sit a little under $2 million below it — not enough to sign even a veteran-minimum center, whose cap hit lands around $2.45 million, until early December. Don’t be surprised if Nurse spends the preseason experimenting with small lineups, because he may not have a choice.

Around the league at midday

Washington, on Anthony Davis: The Wizards are unlikely to offer Davis a maximum extension, per a report from Hoops Wire’s Sam Amico. Davis wants to be paid like a max player on his next deal; Washington, per the report, is not inclined to do it. That stance — if it holds — puts one of the league’s biggest names on the slow road toward the trade market.

Milwaukee: The Bucks announced Tuesday they have signed second-year forward Johni Broome and waived John Butler Jr. — a camp-body swap as the roster math tightens.

The Exhibit 10 shuffle: Monday’s transaction log was busy at the margins, per Hoops Rumors. The Wizards signed Skal Labissiere to an Exhibit 10 deal and waived Jazian Gortman; the Bulls waived guard Isaiah Stevens; the Magic signed and quickly waived Mike Sharavjamts, then did the same with Johnell Davis; the Raptors signed Tyson Degenhart and waived Andre Jackson Jr. Exhibit 10 season is G League paperwork season — most of these names will surface in the G League in November.

New York, the expensive kind of problem: The defending champion Knicks are learning what a title roster costs under the second apron, per a Posting and Toasting note flagged by Hoops Wire. Somebody expensive probably has to go eventually; Josh Hart and OG Anunoby are the names that keep surfacing in the speculation.

Los Angeles: JJ Redick liked what he saw defensively in Monday’s 127-103 win at Sacramento, telling reporters the disruption the Lakers worked on in practice “carried over” to the game. Luka Dončić had 21 in the opener of the strange preseason back-to-back; night two is tonight at Chase Center.

And the quote of the day: Charles Barkley was asked on Westwood One who he’d pick as his successor on Inside the NBA, and his answer was Jalen Rose. File that one away for the next round of “is Chuck actually leaving” discourse.

Tonight, briefly

Four preseason games, and this morning’s notebook has the full previews — no need to rehash them here. The quick version: Hornets vs. Nets tips at 4 PM PT in Charlotte, Thunder vs. Pelicans goes at 5 PM PT, the Jazz and Nuggets run it back at 6 PM PT in Salt Lake City, and the Lakers visit the Warriors at 7 PM PT on NBC Sports Bay Area and NBA TV to close night two of their odd little back-to-back.

The regular season is 15 days out. October is already doing October things. More NBA coverage at Previously’s news hub.