The Philadelphia 76ers are set to open the 2026-2027 NBA season on Tuesday night with a matchup on the road against the New York Knicks.
Heading into the opener, the Sixers’ center position is already in a tough state. While Joel Embiid is surprisingly healthy heading into the new year, his duo of backups heading into training camp are not.
Ariel Hukporti went out during the first half of his first preseason game with the team. A non-contact injury turned out to be a torn Achilles. As expected, the ex-Knicks center will miss the entire 2026-2027 season, shutting down any chance of him having a debut with the 76ers unless he’s re-signed.
Naturally, the 76ers will look to Adem Bona to begin the season as the backup, but his situation is slightly complicated as well. The Sixers listed the backup big man as questionable on the injury report.
That injury designation comes after Bona missed the entire preseason, and most of training camp with a foot injury that he suffered weeks before the team opened camp.
Sixers Set Adem Bona’s Questionable Status
The 23-year-old big man isn’t much of a question mark for the Sixers at this stage of his career.
While the 76ers want to see improvements from the young veteran, at least they know he is able to do a serviceable job when he’s called on.
During his rookie season, Bona played on a tanking 76ers team. In 58 games, he saw the court for 15.6 minutes per outing. During that time, Bona averaged 5.8 points. 4.2 rebounds and 1.2 blocks.
In his sophomore effort, Bona played in 71 games with an average of 17.4 minutes of playing time. The young veteran posted averages of 4.8 points and 4.3 rebounds, along with 1.2 blocks per game.
The Sixers were more competitive in 2025-2026, and even had a playoff run, which gave Bona 10 games of action, including three starts. He can hold his own, but the 76ers aren’t sure if he’ll be healthy enough to begin the season right away.
If Bona can’t get the nod to go, the 76ers will have to rely on some small-ball action. LeBron James, Dean Wade, and Jabari Walker were tabbed as options to play center behind Joel Embiid at times this season.