Philadelphia 76ers: Losing Wilson Chandler is a preseason bummer

In a game filled with positive upsides, the Philadelphia 76ers newest addition, Wilson Chandler suffered a hamstring injury vs. Melbourne United.

One game into the preseason and the Philadelphia 76ers have already received a tough break on the injury front.

Well technically, it’s a tough strain, but hey, it’s still not good.

After only four minutes of action on court, Wilson Chandler went down with a leg injury that would eventually be diagnosed a left hamstring injury the following day.

Recovery time? Two-to-three weeks as per The Philly Voice’s Kyle Neubeck

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Now granted, the NBA season doesn’t start until October 16th, so Chandler could technically be ready to go for opening night against the Boston Celtics at the Garden, in a game that very well could preview an eventual Eastern Conference playoff series, but leg injuries can be tricky.

I mean just last season, Kawhi Leonard went down with a quad bruise and he missed all but nine games. While I doubt a similar fate will fall Chandler, a hard-nosed, lunch pail forward, his two-to-three week recovery could easily stretch out to four-to-five, a delay that could result in missing as many as six-to-eight games.

That would be a tough pill to swallow.

After struggling to defend offense-first forwards down the stretch late last spring, Wilson was acquired from the Denver Nuggets to bring a tough, 3-and-D presence to the Sixers’ second unit, essentially serving as a foil to Robert Covington.

While the duo may seldom see the court together, having a pair of players who can play solid defense 2-4 while also be able to knock down open 3-pointers is a luxury that the Sixers will sorely miss for the next few weeks, which may press on into the start of the regular season.

With Chandler out, the Philadelphia 76ers will likely not turn to Furkan Korkmaz to pick up the slack over the remainder of the preseason, in an attempt to see if he can recapture his Summer League magic and earn a spot in Brett Brown‘s rotation.

Though this uptick in minutes for Furkie could certainly be a blessing in disguise for the 2016 first round pick, it’s unfortunate that it had to come at the expense of Wilson Chandler in an exhibition game against a team that doesn’t even play in North America.