Hope is not a strategy. It is a lack of options. Right now, it is all the Sixers have. They can hope that Joel Embiid is back for good. They can hope that his knee responds to its latest test. They can hope that he is still a player who makes a team a contender.

If the Sixers are looking to make a big shakeup by the trade deadline, it almost has to involve George. Embiid isn’t eligible to be traded until the offseason, and trading Maxey is likely a non-starter for now (although TrueHoop’s Henry Abbott recently made a case for it).

Here is the full injury report for Paul George and the Philadelphia 76ers as they take on the Detroit Pistons on the road on Friday.