Dec 6, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia 76ers guard Jared McCain (20) reacts with Orlando Magic guard Anthony Black (0) after the game at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images
It was 3:41 p.m., Eastern time, that news of the Sixers' first injury of the 2025-26 season hit email inboxes: Jared McCain tore the UCL in his right thumb in a workout on Thursday.
Media day is Friday. Training camp starts Saturday. The team leaves for Abu Dhabi, the destination of two preseason games, on Sunday. If the Sixers were treading water, this felt like a gentle tug from the current, a threat to pull them below the ocean's surface before they even compete for their first jump-ball of the season.
McCain and the team are consulting with specialists on next steps. Further updates will be provided as appropriate. That could mean surgery. That could mean non-surgical treatments. We'll see.
McCain made the NBA his oyster before a torn meniscus sidelined him for the vast majority of his rookie season. His return to an NBA court very well might have to wait a bit longer than he expected.
There is quite a bit of history to project this injury. Boston guard Anfernee Simons suffered a similar wound very early in the 2023-24 season.
According to injury analyst Jeff Stotts, who has a database for injury information, the "average number of missed games for in-season UCL repairs in the NBA is roughly 22 games", with the "average number of days lost being being 53". So, seven-to-eight weeks.
Stotts also noted that surgery usually exhibits very positive outcomes, with studies showing that a related dip in play is uncommon.
Simons suffered the injury on October 25. He returned on December 6. For the month of December, Simons shot better than 40 percent from three on 99 attempts across 10 games, per Basketball Reference. Simons shot 38.5 percent from three for the season, and averaged a career-high 22.6 points per game.
There is encouraging precedent here. But there are potential ramifications at play.
The outcome for Anfernee Simons is everything you could've wanted to hear. That doesn't mean it will be the outcome for McCain. No two injuries are the same.
There is valid reason to be concerned about how quickly McCain can get up to speed when a huge chunk of his job is jump-shooting. You shoot with your fingers, not your palms. Your digits supply the grip and the backspin. So if McCain is dealing with any lingering effects of the injury, it could compromise the power and touch he gets under the ball on his release.
I'd be less concerned if McCain wasn't also coming off a long layoff as a result of the meniscus injury. Sure, he's been back on the court for some time now. He'll ostensibly get a runway to re-acclimate himself before the Sixers clear him to return to game action. But it's already been a long time since he deployed his skills in real NBA action. This might add to that. He'd theoretically be getting two opposing parts of the body used to that environment at once.
Can anyone guarantee a lag in production when McCain does make his season debut? No. Would it be unreasonable to expect that his production might lag? No.
Even if the injury isn't all that severe in the long run, this is a bummer. For McCain. For the team. For the fans. The early "why is it always us?" reactions are understandable. But let's not forget the formula for winning most regular-season games in the NBA.
If Joel Embiid is physically and mentally healthy, the Sixers are going to have the best player on the court most nights. If Tyrese Maxey is healthy, the Sixers are very likely to have two of the three best players on the court on most nights. That's without getting to Paul George, who could give you three of the four best players on the court if he's healthy.
Those 'if's are italicized for a reason. None of this is to suggest that there's any level of certainty behind the availabilities of Embiid and George. But if they can play, and they play like themselves, McCain's availability will be immaterial to the team's early-season success.
If camp Grimes was looking for a sliver of leverage in contract negotiations with Philadelphia, this development is something of a gift. The Sixers had the ability to be patient with Grimes, giving youngsters McCain and VJ Edgecombe the lion's share of the non-Maxey guard minutes. The Sixers had plenty of guard depth in their back pocket. They still will have that when all is said and done. But without Grimes under contract, they're staring at a scenario in which Edgecombe is their only other ball-handler under the age of 30 for the first several weeks of the season.
Grimes' party could dare Philadelphia to actually give minutes to Kyle Lowry, who is suddenly doubling as a tv analyst for Amazon this season. The other play here is that McCain had already spent time building chemistry with his teammates this offseason. There is plenty of time to get Grimes in the building and building with his teammates before the games start to matter. No need to wonder who's going to step into McCain's shoes. Grimes can smoothen over the jagged edges created by his absence in the early-going.
Should you expect the Sixers to hand out a deal they don't love just because it might soothe potential short-term discomfort? No. That's not this management's modus operandi.
Does it give Grimes something to work with in these contract discussions? Maybe.
None of this is ideal for Philadelphia. But the sky isn't falling.
