Opening Night Injury Map: Embiid Is Clear, the Knicks Are Clean, and Podziemski Is the One Worry

Opening night is here, and for once the most important lineup news in the NBA is who is not on the injury report. The 2026-27 season tips off Tuesday, October 20, with three games — the Boston Celtics at the Detroit Pistons, the Philadelphia 76ers at the New York Knicks, and the Oklahoma City Thunder at the San Antonio Spurs — and the morning-of injury picture, reported by Warriors Wire, ClutchPoints, The Oklahoman and Heavy, has one genuine headline: Joel Embiid is fit to play. Everything else is fine print, but on opening night the fine print is where seasons quietly tilt, so here is the full map before you settle in.

Embiid is clear — and the Knicks are clean

According to ClutchPoints, the 76ers' injury report for tonight's game at Madison Square Garden does not list Joel Embiid at all — the former MVP is fit to play, which is the only sentence Philadelphia fans needed to read this morning. The rest of the Sixers' report is longer: Dean Wade is questionable with an ankle injury suffered in the final preseason game against Boston, Ariel Hukporti and Dominick Barlow are out, Adam Bona and Anfernee Simons are questionable, and Tacko Fall is out, ClutchPoints reported. Philadelphia's expected starting group, per ClutchPoints, is Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe in the backcourt with LeBron James and Jaylen Brown at forward and Embiid at center.

Across the floor, the news is even simpler. ClutchPoints reported that the Knicks have no players on the injury report at all — a clean sheet for the defending champions on opening night, with expected starters Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart, OG Anunoby and Karl-Anthony Towns. Any coach will tell you the best ability in October is availability, and New York starts the season with all of it. Philadelphia, meanwhile, gets its franchise player but will be stitching together a bench from the questionable column. Something to watch by the second quarter, when those rotations collide.

The Warriors' one cloud: Podziemski's back

Golden State does not play until Wednesday, at the Los Angeles Lakers, but the Warriors still managed to produce the morning's most anxious headline. Warriors Wire, part of USA Today Sports, reported that Brandin Podziemski missed Warriors practice on Monday and is questionable for Wednesday's opener with lower back soreness. The same report carried the counterweight: Golden State received positive news on Stephen Curry, who had tweaked his right ankle in an open practice on October 19, according to the Associated Press roundup. Head coach Steve Kerr's assessment, per that roundup, was admirably brief: "He said he's fine."

Podziemski is not a decorative absence if this lingers. Warriors Wire noted his production last season — 13.8 points on 45.5% shooting, with 5.1 rebounds and 3.7 assists in 28.5 minutes a night — and one durability fact that makes a back issue sting a little more: he played all 82 games in 2025-26, one of only 18 players in the league to do so. Backs are the injury report's least trustworthy narrator; they improve in a day or they narrate the next two months. For a Warriors team whose margin for error in the West is thin, Wednesday's final report will matter more than anything that happens in tonight's three games — at least in the Bay Area. Our sports desk will track it through the week.

Thunder and Spurs: a finals rematch with absentees

The nightcap is the heavyweight bout: Oklahoma City at San Antonio, 8:30 p.m. Central on NBC and Peacock from the Frost Bank Center. The Oklahoman reported that the Thunder will be without Otega Oweh, who is recovering from right Achilles tendon repair surgery, Thomas Sorber, who had right knee surgery, and Nikola Topić, who had low back surgery. The Spurs, per The Oklahoman, are without Tobias Harris, sidelined by a left calf strain. Harris, who signed a two-year, $31 million deal in July according to Vols Wire, averaged 13.3 points and 5.1 rebounds last season — a real rotation piece, not an end-of-bench absence.

The history between these two needs no embellishment. As The Oklahoman noted, San Antonio beat Oklahoma City in seven games in the 2025 Western Conference finals and won last season's series 4-1, including the NBA Cup semifinal. The Thunder spent the summer reloading — the theme of our season preview — and opening night hands them the exact opponent that ended their last two campaigns, on the road, short-handed in the developmental ranks. Harris's absence trims San Antonio's frontcourt depth in return. If you only watch one game tonight, this is the one with genuine June energy in October.

Detroit's quiet good health

Finally, the early game. Heavy reported that Detroit is essentially healthy for the Pistons' home opener against Boston at Little Caesars Arena, which for a franchise that has spent years opening seasons with a training-room roll call is news in itself. Taurean Prince is questionable for personal reasons, and Elijah Harkless's two-way activation depends on Prince's status, per Heavy; Isaac Jones and Ugonna Onyenso are out as two-way inactives. That is the whole list. Boston walks into a building where the home team finally gets to argue about basketball instead of availability.

So the opening-night map, in one breath: Embiid plays, the Knicks are whole, Detroit is nearly whole, the Spurs miss Harris, the Thunder miss three young players recovering from surgery, and the Warriors hold their breath over Podziemski's back while Curry insists he is fine. Eighty-two games of chaos start tonight. For once, almost everybody's best player is in uniform for it — and if that holds for even a month, this season is going to be enormous fun.