The Philadelphia 76ers have endured a plethora of injury woes all season long, and they're only starting to become healthier. If there was ever a time for a team to hit peak health, it's heading into the playoffs, and the important thing is that the likes of Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and Paul George are back from their lengthy absences.
However, the hits never seem to stop coming for the 76ers. In the aftermath of their 116-93 loss to the Detroit Pistons on Saturday night, third-string point guard Cameron Payne sustained a hamstring injury that would keep him out for at least two weeks, as per Ky Carlin of Sixers Wire — keeping him out of action for the rest of the regular season and the start of the first round of the 2026 NBA playoffs.
Payne wasn't expected to play a huge role for the 76ers anyway, but even then, he gave Philly some depth in the event of injuries to guards higher up in the depth chart.
He had a 32-point game earlier in the season when Philly was extremely depleted, and he deserves plenty of credit for staying ready even though the 76ers only brought him in back in February.
On the season, Payne averaged 7.4 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game in 17 minutes per contest.
76ers are hitting playoff mode in preparation for April push
The 76ers looked dead in the water when their star trio was out of action, but they have since climbed the East standings and are currently sitting in sixth place — which would give them an outright playoff berth if the season were to end today.
Head coach Nick Nurse is giving his stars all the workload they can handle, and he is running essentially a nine-man rotation (with Andre Drummond and Adem Bona splitting backup center duties) to try and secure their playoff spot.
