PHILADELPHIA -- Just five minutes into the preseason opener against the New York Knicks on Monday, 76ers backup center Ariel Hukporti suffered a right leg injury, causing him to leave the game.
The noncontact injury occurred with 7:06 remaining in the first quarter. Hukporti fell to the floor on the defensive end and immediately grabbed his lower right leg.
The big man, signed to a one-year, $3.4 million free agent contract in July after winning a championship with the Knicks, was helped off the floor during an ensuing timeout.
Sixers coach Nick Nurse said after the 120-97 win that Hukporti will get imaging on his right Achilles on Tuesday.
Hukporti started against his former team, with Philadelphia already thin in its frontcourt rotation.
Joel Embiid, who missed 150 games over the past three seasons because of various injuries, has been healthy during training camp but was given the night off by Nurse, along with LeBron James and Tyrese Maxey, who both were also healthy scratches.
Philadelphia was also without two of its backup centers in Adem Bona and Tacko Fall.
Bona, in his second season with the team, has yet to participate in training camp after suffering a left foot sprain during the offseason while playing for Turkey's national team.
Last week, a Sixers spokesman said that Bona would be reevaluated imminently, and Nurse told reporters that he hoped Bona would be available at some point during the preseason.
The 7-5 Fall, who signed to an Exhibit 10 training camp deal with a chance to compete for a two-way roster spot, was diagnosed with a left hip sprain after undergoing an MRI last Wednesday. The team said he would be reevaluated in about two weeks.
Before the game against the Knicks, Nurse said he hoped to have the majority of his players available to play together in two out of the Sixers' three remaining preseason games. Philadelphia goes on the road to play the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday, followed by the Boston Celtics on Saturday before closing the exhibition schedule at home against Boston on Oct. 16.
The regular-season opener is Oct. 20 in New York against the Knicks.
