NBA Tuesday Notebook: Sixers Await Hukporti’s MRI, Lakers Play a Strange Back-to-Back

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2026 — Monday night was about first impressions: Jaylen Brown looking like he’d never been anywhere else, three rookies announcing themselves in three different cities. But the image that lingered into Tuesday morning had nothing to do with a stat line. Five minutes into his first game in a 76ers uniform, Ariel Hukporti crumpled on a non-contact play, and today Philadelphia gets the answer it fears most — imaging on his right Achilles. The four-game slate can wait a few paragraphs. This is where the day begins.

The MRI that matters most

The fall came at the 7:06 mark of the first quarter, with Hukporti guarding Karl-Anthony Towns on the perimeter. He went down awkwardly, stayed down clutching his right lower leg, and needed heavy assistance from Towns and his Sixers teammates to reach the locker room — his former Knicks teammates gathered around him before he left. The non-contact nature of it told the story before anyone said a word, and it briefly drained the life out of a 120-97 rout in which Brown poured in 22 in 17 minutes and VJ Edgecombe added 12 points and seven assists.

“They’re gonna do the imaging tomorrow. Right Achilles they’re gonna look at.”— Nick Nurse, postgame, via Sixers Wire

Nurse, who gave the big man a hug in the locker room during the game, was clearly moved: “He’s been a joy to coach in the short time he’s been here. Really a good dude. We’ll just hope for the best.” The locker room echoed it. Brown called him “such a great guy. Just a great communicator. I hope it’s nothing too severe.” And Jabari Walker, who’d bonded with the new center in camp, told ESPN’s Dave McMenamin: “That messed me up. That’s tough [to see].”

The stakes go beyond sentiment. Hukporti signed a one-year, $3.4 million deal this summer specifically to give Philadelphia center minutes behind Joel Embiid — and the Sixers are already down Adem Bona and Tacko Fall. Anfernee Simons and Dominick Barlow sat Monday with minor issues Nurse said he isn’t concerned about. The immediate answer was Walker himself: 11 points and 11 rebounds in 19 strong minutes off the bench. The longer-term answer, if the news is bad, routes right back to Embiid’s load management — the entire reason this superteam’s front office built a four-star rotation in the first place. As of this morning, no results had been announced. Philadelphia holds its breath.

Around the injury board

Memphis has its own frontcourt scare: Isaiah Stewart played just two minutes against Atlanta before an ankle injury ended his night, per the Commercial Appeal — the backup-center battle behind Zach Edey takes an early hit. The Grizzlies, meanwhile, are deliberately holding Edey out of the preseason, managing his workload with the regular-season opener as the target.

In Los Angeles, Walker Kessler jammed his finger on the backboard and Austin Reaves tweaked his ankle in practice; both sat out Monday’s 127-103 win over Sacramento. JJ Redick called both “fine” and day-to-day, per Dan Woike and Mike Trudell, with Collin Sexton and Arthur Kaluma also sidelined. Charlotte opens its preseason without three contributors — Coby White’s left calf strain joins Kon Knueppel and Grant Williams on the shelf, per Rookie Wire. Our full preseason injury board tracks every name.

Tonight’s four-game slate

Nets at Hornets, 7 PM ET (4 PT) — Charlotte’s preseason opener at Spectrum Center (NBA League Pass, WAXN-TV64), one year after a 25-win leap to 44-38 and ninth in the East. The projected starters per Rookie Wire: Dennis Schroder, Grayson Allen, Brandon Miller, Naz Reid and Moussa Diabate — against Brooklyn’s Egor Demin, Terrance Mann, Michael Porter Jr., Julius Randle and Day’Ron Sharpe. Note the connective tissue: Allen and Royce O’Neale came to Charlotte in the deal that sent Miles Bridges to Phoenix, the trade that made the Suns better and the Hornets deeper.

Pelicans vs. Thunder, 8 PM ET (5 PT) — Neutral-site preseason hoops at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. A chance to see which young Pelicans push for rotation minutes and how Oklahoma City manages its veterans’ workloads.

Nuggets at Jazz, 9 PM ET (6 PT) — An instant rematch: Utah took Sunday’s meeting 109-97, so Denver gets a look at adjustments two days later. Young Jazz legs against a contender’s core — exactly what the exhibition calendar is for.

Lakers at Warriors, 10 PM ET (7 PT) — The headliner, and the oddity: a genuine preseason back-to-back for Los Angeles, “unusual and a little perplexing,” as Sports Illustrated put it. Monday’s rout of Sacramento showed the formula — Luka Doncic running the show, 20 made threes at 45.5 percent — but now comes the rotation question: push the young legs again, or protect the veterans with Reaves and Kessler already day-to-day?

Monday, in one paragraph

Detroit’s bench erased a 19-point second-half deficit in a 109-107 win over Phoenix, capped by 17th overall pick Ebuka Okorie’s game-winner with 5.8 seconds left. Brown’s 22-point debut powered Philadelphia’s 120-97 rout of the defending-champion Knicks, who got 12 points from Jalen Brunson in his return from offseason wrist surgery. Minnesota opened the post-Giannis era with a 116-97 win in Milwaukee behind 33 combined first-half points from LaMelo Ball, Jonathan Kuminga and Anthony Edwards. The Lakers’ 127-103 rout featured 20 threes and a 19-point debut from No. 7 pick Darius Acuff Jr. And Memphis’ 132-123 win over Atlanta came with No. 3 pick Cam Boozer’s polished 11-5-4-2 debut — 18 minutes that looked nothing like a rookie’s. The full night wrap has every detail.

What we’re watching next

The Hukporti update comes first — imaging was scheduled for today, and the result reorders Philadelphia’s entire frontcourt plan. Then the Lakers’ day-to-day decisions: does Reaves or Kessler suit up for a preseason back-to-back, or does Redick hold them for the weekend? Phoenix gets back to it Wednesday in Chicago, where Jalen Green’s six free-throw attempts Monday — after a career-low 2.7 per game last season — are worth a second look. And the calendar keeps filling in: the preseason runs through October 18, and Charlotte’s real opener arrives October 21. Back to the Lakers’ opener, and we’ll be here for all of it — every night that matters.