How the Sixers can add another backup center after Ariel Hukporti’s Achilles injury

The Sixers’ preseason opener was the textbook definition of a glass-half-full, glass-half-empty night.

The glass-half-full: Jaylen Brown scored 22 points in 15 minutes. VJ Edgecombe couldn’t buy a bucket from deep, but he chipped in a well-rounded 12 points, seven assists and four rebounds in only 20 minutes of action. Even Jabari Walker shined with 11 points and 11 rebounds in 19 minutes off the bench.

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The glass-half-empty: The Sixers’ depth at backup center behind Joel Embiid, which already looked flimsy with Adem Bona nursing a foot injury, took another major hit when Ariel Hukporti went down with a torn Achilles only five minutes into the game.

The Sixers spent part of their bi-annual exception to sign Hukporti to a one-year, $3.4 million contract this offseason. Losing him is a blow on multiple fronts, particularly since they don’t have an easy way to replace him.

The Sixers do still have one open standard roster spot, but they’re hard-capped at the $209.0 million first apron. They’re only $1.8 million below that line at the moment, which means they don’t have enough room under the first apron for a veteran-minimum contract for anyone with even a single year of NBA experience. If they wanted to sign someone now, it would have to be an undrafted rookie free agent. That’s not exactly what the doctor ordered for the win-now Sixers.

Minimum contracts begin to prorate downward once the regular season begins, so the Sixers will be able to fill that last roster spot with a free-agent signing starting on Dec. 3. However, they might prefer to keep that spot open until the trade deadline to give themselves some additional flexibility for an in-season addition.

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If so, they’ll need to explore alternate ways to replace Hukporti for now.

The easiest would be a two-way contract. The Sixers still have one open two-way spot, and they have 7’6″ center Tacko Fall in training camp on an Exhibit 10 deal. However, Fall is currently nursing a hip strain and is not expected to be reevaluated until mid-October, so he might not be ready for opening night, either.

As other teams begin to trim down their rosters…

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Publish date : 2026-10-06 20:15:00

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