An inventive method for link adaptation for an LTE/LTE-A uplink with a turbo SIC receiver includes the steps of determining a precoding matrix index PMI and rank index RI selection for an LTE/LTE-A uplink when precoding of the uplink is enabled, responsive to channel state information of a subcarrier in the uplink; determining a decoding order for codewords in the uplink i) when the precoding of the uplink is not enabled and ii) if needed when the precoding of the uplink is enabled; performing modulation and coding scheme MCS assignment for the uplink based on a hard decision successive interference cancellation SIC rule (without intra-CW cancellation) or a partial hard decision successive interference cancellation SIC rule (with intra-CW cancellation), responsive to the determined PMI and RI selection; and influencing data transmission in the uplink responsive to the MCS assignment for detection by a turbo SIC receiver.