When could Kelly Oubre Jr. make his return to the floor for Sixers?
PHILADELPHIA–The Philadelphia 76ers have been without Kelly Oubre Jr. since he was struck by a vehicle back on Nov. 11. He suffered a rib fracture and has missed seven games since the terrible event.
On the season, Oubre Jr. is averaging 16.3 points and 5.1 rebounds while also shooting 50% from the floor and 37.8% from deep. He also was terrific on the defensive end and he gave the Sixers a big boost in the starting lineup after the James Harden trade.
The Sixers announced on Nov. 21 that Oubre Jr. will be re-evaluated in a week. They will then give an updated timeline on when he could return to the floor, but coach Nick Nurse has hopes that he could return when that re-evaluation gets done.
“Yeah, there might be a chance,” said Nurse. “I think we’re still at a stage where we’re not sure how he’s gonna handle the contact part of it, right? I think that’s gonna determine—if he handles that the first time out OK, I think we’re really close to that week timeline. If he doesn’t? Then we’re gonna probably be pushing some more days on that. Hopefully, only days, not weeks on that.”
Oubre Jr. will need to pass the physical and contact part of his evaluation in order to return to the floor. In the meantime, Nic Batum has played well filling in for Oubre Jr. so the Sixers are not going to rush Oubre Jr.’s timeline at all. They want to make sure that he is at 100% before he returns.
