Author: Gina Mizell

Trendon Watford inadvertently messed with Tyrese Maxey’s psyche during Tuesday’s win at the Indiana Pacers. After the All-Star guard sank his first two three-point attempts, Watford informed Maxey that he only needed four more to break the 76ers’ franchise record for career makes.

“I had no idea I was that close,” Maxey said. “… I missed every three after that [in that game].”

Maxey wasted little time achieving the milestone during Thursday’s 124-117 victory over the Miami Heat. He ripped off two in 12 seconds, thanks to a leaping interception between shots. He pulled up again in transition from the left wing at the 4-minute, 29-second mark, tying the record. Then, poetically, Watford pump-faked, drove, and dished to an open Maxey for the record-breaking splash that the longtime close friends will remember “forever,” Maxey said. He hit one more — on one of his quintessential stepbacks — before the first-quarter buzzer for good measure.

That first-quarter flurry pushed Maxey past Allen Iverson’s 885 career three-pointers, and he ended the night with 887 after going 5-of-12 from beyond the arc. During his five-plus NBA seasons, Maxey entered Thursday connecting on 38% of those long-range attempts. That it took Maxey only 375 games to amass that many makes — Iverson’s total occurred in 722 — partially is a product of the modern NBA, which thrives on creating and making three-pointers.

It also is a testament to Maxey turning a perceived weakness into a massive weapon in his arsenal as one of the NBA’s most dangerous scorers. He entered Friday ranked fourth in the NBA at 29.1 points per game.

“That’s a blessing, honestly,” Maxey said postgame of the record. “I’m just happy, man. … Thank God for the opportunity. I thank God for the Sixers organization for drafting me, trusting me, believing in me.”

Today, it seems outrageous that three-point shooting was the biggest critique of Maxey’s game entering the 2020 draft after he made only 29.2% of his attempts during his one college season at Kentucky. He remembers being constantly questioned about it during interviews with NBA decision-makers. Maxey’s father, Tyrone, recently recalled to The Inquirer a pre-draft workout in which Tyrese made 33 three-pointers in a row, and that team “still passed on him.”

The Sixers front office, however, believed in Maxey’s perimeter shooting mechanics and “secondary indicators” of NBA potential, president of basketball operations Daryl Morey told The Inquirer in 2021.

Once the Sixers drafted Maxey 21st overall, former coach Doc Rivers was flabbergasted that Maxey consistently made threes inside the practice facility but only 30.1% of his in-game attempts as a rookie. Former teammate Tobias Harris encouraged Maxey to keep shooting. So did superstar Joel Embiid, eventually declaring that Maxey should attempt 10 per game.

“I knew I could shoot the ball well,” Maxey recalled earlier this month.

His efficiency rose above 40% for consecutive seasons, from 2021 to 2023, even as that volume increased. That percentage temporarily dipped to 33.7% during the Sixers’ disastrous 2024-25 season, when Maxey often struggled as the top offensive option for an injury-plagued team, and then suffered a finger sprain that severely hampered his shooting.

This season, Maxey is back to making 37.6% of his 8.9 attempts per game, and was selected to participate in the three-point contest at All-Star Saturday before starting Sunday’s main event.

And coach Nick Nurse continues to push Maxey to fire even more three-pointers, and from farther away from the basket. The next layer to Maxey’s three-point assortment, Nurse said, is when he slams on the brakes in transition and launches off the dribble. Those attempts, Nurse said, are “so difficult to guard” and “[require] maybe the least amount of effort.”

“If you can get teams to have to pick you up that high,” Nurse said, “that’s just immediately going to help your offense and create space for everybody.”

Maxey said he “definitely” agrees with Nurse’s assessment, and coyly added that there are “a lot of things I want to try to work on” regarding his three-point shooting.

Yet to already pass the franchise legend Iverson “in anything” is an honor, Maxey said. He waved to the crowd when a video tribute between the first and second quarters formally connected the Hall of Famer to the franchise’s current star. And it was fitting that Maxey had the game-clinching assist on an Embiid three-pointer with 29.2 seconds remaining.

Then, Maxey brought the game ball to his postgame news conference. His mother, Denyse, keeps most of the memorabilia commemorating such accomplishments at their family home near Dallas.

Maxey hopes Mom will let him hang on to this memento, which signifies how he turned a perceived weakness into a record-breaking offensive weapon.

“He’s going to have some time to increase it,” Nurse said of the milestone. “Will be a tough one to beat by the time he’s done.”

INDIANAPOLIS — As soon as the 76ers boarded their flight following a brutal loss at the New Orleans Pelicans, the conversation turned serious.

“What do we want to do? What team do we want to be?” All-Star point guard Tyrese Maxey recalled of the message. “… This is a defining moment in our season. It’s not make-or-break, but it’s time to go.”

What began as a woeful three-game road trip quickly flipped into a successful one. The Sixers snapped a four-game skid by pulling off an impressive victory at the Minnesota Timberwolves on the second night of a back-to-back, then took care of business against the shorthanded and tanking Indiana Pacers. Joel Embiid returned from what he called a stress reaction in his right leg against Indiana, totaling 27 points on 11-of-17 shooting, six rebounds, and five assists in an outing he said felt “OK.”

Yet the most encouraging development for the Sixers is that Maxey is officially humming again, after a rough shooting start out of the All-Star break. He totaled 39 points and eight assists against Minnesota, attacking immediately with his speed instead of overanalyzing schemes, coach Nick Nurse said. Maxey followed that by nearly amassing a 32-point triple-double (nine rebounds, eight assists) in three quarters of work, which was bolstered by Embiid’s presence.

And Maxey ripped off a highlight dunk on fellow All-Star and friend Anthony Edwards, saying that play encapsulated how the Sixers “needed to let some emotions out after the last week or so.”

“Amazing mental adjustment for him,” Nurse added of Maxey following that victory in Minneapolis. “To come in and have some tough games, and then just kind of know we really need him to have a great one, and he just does it.

“He plays like that, and then all of a sudden everybody else gets lifted, too. And that’s what great players are supposed to do.”

Fueling that surge after the New Orleans disaster, Maxey said, were “encouraging words” he received from family back home, who told him there “ain’t no chance you’re going to let your team lose five in a row.” Teammate and close friend Trendon Watford also provided some tough love on that plane ride, saying, “Go help your team win a game, and do whatever it takes.”

The Sixers return home for one game against the Miami Heat while hanging on to the sixth spot in the Eastern Conference standings entering Wednesday (32-26). After that is a marquee showdown at the Boston Celtics, who sit second in the East and are arguably the NBA’s biggest surprise this season.

Until then, here are some snapshots from the road trip …

Tyrese and Ant Man

Dive into the video archives belonging to the mother of Maxey’s best friend, Chris Harris, and one would find footage of them playing against Edwards as fifth-graders.

“Short, chubby, strong,” Maxey said of Edwards back then. “And now, he’s that.”

Since then, Maxey and Edwards have coincidentally remained alongside each other during their journeys into NBA stardom.

They hung out “every single day” at the McDonald’s All American Game as high schoolers. They both played their one college basketball season in the SEC — Maxey at Kentucky, and Edwards at Georgia. They were selections in a strange 2020 draft, with Edwards going first overall and Maxey slipping to 21st. And earlier this month, their young Team Stars won the All-Star tournament. Edwards was the MVP of the event, while Maxey was prominently featured as the top American fan vote-getter.

“[He’s] a guy that I really appreciate talking to,” Maxey said of Edwards. “I appreciate his craft. I appreciate his story. We just kind of clicked.”

So when Maxey and Edwards faced off Sunday, it was all competitive love. Maxey said that when Edwards scored on him early and talked trash, “it kind of woke me up a little bit.” Then Maxey returned the favor by jamming the ball on Edwards — a player known for his thunderous dunks — and gave Edwards the mean mug.

“I didn’t know that he was going downhill,” Edwards told reporters after the game. “I just end up turning my head and I’m thinking he’s going to lay it up, and he punched it. It was a quick little dunk, too. I couldn’t even get a chance to block it.

“That’s why we play the game. I’m not mad at that.”

‘Three-J’ Edgecombe

VJ Edgecombe simply did not care — about his three-point shot, that is. If he got an open look against the Timberwolves, he let it fly.

“Thank God I wasn’t missing,” he said after the game.

The result was a career-high six makes on seven attempts, as part of a 24-point night for the Sixers’ standout rookie guard. He followed that up with a 23-point effort at Indiana, including a 2-of-4 mark from long range. Edgecombe entered Thursday shooting 36.4% on 5.7 three-point attempts per game, and has a knack for knocking down clutch deep shots (12-of-22 when a game is within five points with five minutes or less remaining).

“That’s a really great attitude to have,” Nurse said of Edgecombe’s “doesn’t care” approach. “That’s what he should do. Take rhythm shots. Take bailout ones when we need him at the end of the shot clock.”

That combination of confidence and results continues to make Edgecombe’s shooting — the biggest knock against his game before being drafted third overall — a pleasant surprise.

He shot 34% on 4.6 attempts during his one season at Baylor, although coach Scott Drew said that mark improved with a midseason form adjustment. Nurse called Edgecombe’s mechanics “pretty good” during the predraft process. And Edgecombe ignored such critics.

“The people saying I couldn’t shoot,” Edgecombe told The Inquirer from the locker room in Minneapolis, “are the people that are not playing basketball.”

Edgecombe credits the “countless reps” put in with assistant coach Rico Hines, from the summer until now. They achieved a higher arc on his shot. Now, he is working on making his release quicker and getting more comfortable launching off the dribble.

If minor details — such as the ball pickup before shooting — do not feel right, Edgecombe will repeat the repetition. They continue to drill “until I like the make, for real.”

When does that occur?

“All net,” he said. “Like a swish.”

Bona’s burst

Plus-minus is considered to be a flawed or incomplete stat. But reserve center Adem Bona was a plus-27 in less than 15 minutes against the Pacers, an insane metric that matched the eye test that identified the performance as one of his best of the season.

Bona made an across-the-box-score impact, with six points on 3-of-3 shooting, five rebounds, three assists, two steals, and one block. He was in the middle — literally and figuratively — of the Sixers’ second-quarter run to flip an eight-point deficit into a double-digit advantage, and the second-half surge to extend the lead to as many as 28 points.

“I just do what I do,” he said. “… Inject energy to the team, communicate, and just anchor the defense.

“I realized [my plus-minus] after the game. But that’s my goal whenever I step on the floor, to impact the team positively.”

Small-ball Barlow?

The Timberwolves entered Sunday’s game undersized, with Rudy Gobert and Naz Reid both out. And when fill-in starter Joan Beringer got into foul trouble, Minnesota went small and then “super small,” as Nurse described.

The Sixers countered at the end of the first half with a three-guard lineup, plus the 6-foot-9 Dominick Barlow at center. Barlow also played that position for a stretch in New Orleans the previous night.

Barlow said Saturday that he still has not practiced at that spot much throughout this season, while elevating himself to a starting forward spot and having his two-way contract converted to a standard deal earlier this month. But Nurse sees potential for Barlow to be an offensive “hub” in the middle, because of his ability to handle the ball, roll, and back cut in the middle of the floor.

“I kind of just figured it out,” Barlow said, “and try to have that approach whatever position I’m playing.”

An off-day routine

The friendship between Nurse and Minnesota coach Chris Finch, who both cut their teeth in the British Basketball League and the NBA D-League (now G League), remains a popular topic whenever their teams match up. When asked Sunday if he spends more time watching Timberwolves games, Nurse acknowledged Finch’s team “probably gets double time, just to see what’s going on.”

So what is Nurse’s game-watching routine on nights the Sixers do not play?

He generally focuses on whichever teams the Sixers will face in the near future. He will keep track of other scores on an iPad. And when he notices another game is close in the final three minutes, he will flip over to catch the end.

Peanut butter & jelly time

As veteran guard Kyle Lowry grabbed a peanut butter and jelly sandwich from the visitors’ locker room before Tuesday’s game in Indiana, teammate Cameron Payne asked for one, too. Lowry then complimented the bread, calling it perhaps the best he has had this season.

That meal so often associated with childhood is wildly popular across professional sports, either in traditional form or as a Smucker’s Uncrustable. So popular that ESPN published a 2017 feature on PB&J, calling the sandwich “the NBA’s secret addiction.”

But a question must accompany this culinary choice: Grape or strawberry jelly?

Payne and Barlow, who was sitting nearby during the exchange, chose grape. Lowry’s preference is strawberry.

MINNEAPOLIS — While sitting next to Quentin Grimes on the bench during the 76ers’ Feb. 7 win at the Phoenix Suns, Tyrese Maxey delivered this message:

“Bro, go out there and just do you,” Maxey told Grimes. “Go hoop.”

Grimes’ off-the-bench spark reappeared Sunday night in the Sixers’ impressive 135-108 bounce-back win against the Timberwolves at the Target Center. The 25-year-old guard totaled 19 points and seven assists, complementing terrific offensive nights from backcourt mates Maxey (39 points and eight assists) and VJ Edgecombe (24 points and seven rebounds).

Such production provides a crucial lift in the games the Sixers (31-26) play without the injured Joel Embiid and/or suspended Paul George. Yet Grimes’ goal for the rest of the season is to consistently stay in “attack mode,” no matter who is on the floor with him. It would be a stretch-run boon for the Sixers’ second unit, which enters Monday ranked 28th in the NBA in bench scoring (30.6 points per game).

“If I kind of just stick to my game, stick to who I am,” Grimes said Sunday at his locker, “ … good things happen.”

Grimes went 5-of-8 from three-point range, including makes on his first attempt from the top of the key and on a fourth-quarter launch that gave the Sixers a 102-82 advantage and prompted a Timberwolves timeout. Grimes also was a successful playmaker, with dump-off passes to center Adem Bona for inside finishes and a highlight alley-oop lob to Edgecombe in transition.

Coach Nick Nurse also appreciates Grimes’ ability to play long stretches, shifting to different positions while the coach “subbed around him.” For example, Grimes closed the first half as part of a small-ball lineup with three guards and Dominick Barlow at center.

“It looks like he’s settling back into the role we had him in earlier,” Nurse said after the game.

Grimes had flashed that such a resurgence could be percolating in the Sixers’ first two games coming out of the All-Star break. In Thursday’s loss to the Atlanta Hawks, he scored 10 of his 14 points in the first half. He totaled another nine in the first quarter Saturday in a brutal defeat at the New Orleans Pelicans, but he could not carry it through the game amid the Sixers’ horrendous second-half shooting.

That aligned with Grimes’ inconsistent results throughout the bulk of his first full season in Philly, following a messy, prolonged restricted free agency that resulted in him signing his one-year qualifying offer after the start of training camp.

Early on, Grimes looked like an NBA Sixth Man of the Year contender as part of a loaded group of young and athletic guards. But he also has dipped into multiple shooting slumps — or low-attempt outings — while also mixing in the occasional reckless defensive close-out that gets whistled as a foul. He is averaging 12.8 points on 44.3% shooting, along with 3.6 rebounds, 3.6 assists, and 0.9 steals in 51 games.

The fifth-year guard certainly was never going to hold the same role this season as when he was initially acquired at the 2025 trade deadline, when he became the Sixers’ top offensive option and lead ballhandler while Maxey, Embiid, and George were all shut down with injuries. Grimes acknowledges it has been challenging at times to carve out his opportunities whenever those three standouts are all available — and because Edgecombe has surpassed him on the depth chart by becoming an immediate starter as a rookie.

Still, Nurse said last week that he still wants to deliberately target a number of shots for Grimes to fire each game, instead of those attempts regularly emerging in the Sixers’ “random” offense.

Maxey wants six or seven three-pointers out of Grimes, believing he too often pump-fakes and drives when open on the perimeter. When Grimes studies film with player development coach TJ DiLeo in the locker room about an hour before each game, a portion of their focus is on the gaps in the defense that Grimes can exploit to sharply vault up for a shot. Nurse added that Grimes is quite good at creating his own space from a defender, and launching over an outstretched arm trying to contest.

“He can get them off anytime he wants,” Nurse said of Grimes. “ … [We are working on] getting him situations where, ‘Hey, we’re going to get you the ball, and we need you to shake your guy down and shoot the ball here.’

“We’re just going to continue to encourage him.”

Hence, Maxey’s message from the bench in Phoenix.

Grimes also got a jolt of rejuvenation from the All-Star break, which he spent in Cabo San Lucas getting a tan, eating delicious meals, and spending time with his family.

The refresh helped him recommit to that on-court attack mode in the Sixers’ first two games out of the break. But Sunday was the full spark that the Sixers will need from Grimes while Embiid and George remain sidelined and when his team returns to full strength.

“I’ve got to just figure out my spots,” Grimes said. “ … When guys come back, there can’t be no drop-off.”

Rookie big man Johni Broome suffered a torn meniscus in his right knee during the third quarter of the Delaware Blue Coats’ loss to the Maine Celtics on Saturday, the 76ers said Sunday afternoon.

Broome “will consult with medical professionals to determine the next steps of his treatment plan,” the team said in a news release.

“Obviously pretty serious injury,” Sixers coach Nick Nurse said Sunday during his pregame news conference in Minneapolis. “I don’t think they’re 100% ready on the next steps quite yet, but he’s going to be out a considerable amount of time. Probably for the remainder of the season, I would think.”

Broome, the Sixers’ second-round pick in last summer’s draft, had appeared in 11 NBA games and averaged 0.9 points and 1.5 rebounds in five minutes. He had gotten more experience in the G League, where he scored a team-high 27 points in 23 minutes Saturday before the injury. He had a 50-point, 17-rebound game for the Blue Coats last month.

A 6-foot-10, 235-pound frontcourt player, Broome was an All-American last season at Auburn and the winner of the Karl Malone Award given to men’s college basketball’s best power forward.

NEW ORLEANS — Bryce McGowens extended his right arm for the “ice in his veins” celebration directly in front of the 76ers’ bench after draining a corner three-pointer as part of the Pelicans’ long-range onslaught.

New Orleans looked like the playoff contender with fresh legs Saturday night at the Smoothie King Center, not the Western Conference bottom-dweller playing short-handed on the second night of a back-to-back. The Pelicans bulldozed the Sixers in the second half of an eventual 126-111 result, handing them their fourth consecutive loss and perhaps their most troubling defeat of the season.

That puts the 30-26 Sixers at an inflection point, and they know it.

Coach Nick Nurse initially called it the “toughest moment of the season, for sure. All year. Without question” during his postgame news conference. And though the visitors’ locker room was not overly tense, panicked, or dejected, veteran wing Kelly Oubre Jr. also offered a blunt assessment of the state of his team and this suddenly teetering season with 26 regular-season games to play.

“I don’t think anything’s funny right now. I don’t think anything is fun,” said Oubre, the New Orleans native who scored 25 points Saturday. “I just hope that we get mad. I think we’ll play better if we’re mad. We’ll play better if we’re desperate.

“I think we’re a little too entitled right now. Teams aren’t going to roll over and let us win any of those games. … We’ve got to whoop them the same way people come into our house and whoop us.”

Perhaps most frustrating for the Sixers is that this skid comes on the heels of what Nurse believes was his team’s best stretch this season — even after starting wing Paul George was abruptly suspended for 25 games for violating the NBA’s anti-drug policy.

The Sixers headed West on Feb. 1 for a five-game road trip and won three of their first four matchups. Starting forward Dominick Barlow said “the vibes were great” throughout that jaunt, even with the trade deadline — and the emotional departure of second-year guard Jared McCain — plopped in the middle.

But after a Feb. 8 victory at the Phoenix Suns, the Sixers were blown out at the Portland Trail Blazers and at home against the rival New York Knicks. In their first game after the All-Star break, the Sixers lost to an Atlanta Hawks team that has overhauled its roster and is fighting for a spot in the play-in tournament. Then came Saturday’s defeat to a Pelicans team that entered the game with a 15-42 record, at a rest disadvantage — and set to start veteran center DeAndre Jordan, who had not played since Oct. 29, in a jumbo lineup.

About 90 minutes before tipoff, Nurse vocalized the Sixers’ need to halt this “hiccup.” He also was honest about his team’s inconsistency throughout the season, saying that “we can play at the highest levels. We can play at the lowest levels” regardless of opponent.

“It wouldn’t matter where we were or who we were playing,” Nurse said. “ … We’ve got to get ourselves corrected.”

It would be easy to blame this slide solely on the absence of former MVP Joel Embiid, who has missed all four games with knee and shin issues after a dominant month-plus stretch. These Sixers have resembled the team that rapidly torpedoed when Embiid and George were sidelined for the bulk of last season, with All-Star point guard Tyrese Maxey manufacturing points (and playing tons of minutes) but struggling with efficiency while getting swarmed defensively. Maxey totaled 27 points, seven assists, and five steals Saturday, but went 2-of-11 from three-point range and 9-of-23 overall from the floor.

And Saturday night, the 2025-26 Sixers’ most glaring problem arose again.

They surrendered 40 points during a dreadful third quarter, swiftly reversing an 11-point advantage early in the frame into an eight-point hole. That deficit continued to balloon to 21 points in the final period, thanks to the Pelicans’ 12-of-20 three-point barrage after the break. The Sixers made only three of their 24 long-range attempts in the second half, providing New Orleans with consistent opportunities to push the ball off misses, penetrate the lane, and kick out to open shooters.

“We just didn’t make any of them, and they made them all,” Nurse said, “It really flipped the game really quickly, and we just could never really get back on track.”

The Sixers exited the All-Star break with a strength of schedule that ranked 23rd out of the NBA’s 30 teams, according to Tankathon. That theoretically should prove beneficial in the Eastern Conference postseason race, where the Sixers entered Sunday in danger of slipping into play-in territory. They were percentage points ahead of the seventh-place Miami Heat (31-27), and a half-game up on the eighth-place Orlando Magic (29-26).

Following Wednesday’s practice, Maxey emphasized that the regular season’s home stretch is when playoff teams “take advantage of whoever they’re playing against.”

“If it’s a team that’s at the bottom of the standings,” Maxey added, “playoff teams normally go out there and handle their business professionally. … It’s time to buckle down. It’s time to go out here and increase our seed, increase the way we’re playing and figure it out, and get ready for this postseason run.”

After Saturday’s failure in that exact scenario, Maxey understood why a reporter circled those words back to him. He stressed that the Sixers must stick together and are the only ones who “can climb ourselves out” of this four-game slump. Barlow cautioned against overreacting, yet acknowledged that “getting a win after each loss becomes harder and harder.” Nurse audibly exhaled as he left the room housing his postgame news conference.

The beauty (and curse) of the NBA schedule? The Sixers play again Sunday night at the Minnesota Timberwolves, before a Tuesday game against an Indiana Pacers team with the worst record in the Eastern Conference (15-42).

Oubre hopes that, for those matchups, his team plays mad.

“Now is the time to not make any more excuses,” he said. “ … It’s just do-or-die time. It’s time for us to muscle up, put our hard hats on, and actually learn how to win NBA games — and do it efficiently and consistently.”

Tyrese Martin was in the crowd of Allentown’s new PPL Center in October 2014, when the 76ers played a preseason game in the city for the first time in 40 years. The teenage Martin even got a photo with K.J. McDaniels, then a Sixers rookie.

Fast forward more than a decade, and Martin on Thursday morning stood in a back hallway of Xfinity Mobile Arena following his first shootaround as a Sixer.

Martin, a 26-year-old combo guard, joining the NBA team closest to his hometown on a two-way contract potentially completes the Sixers’ post-trade roster. They also signed veteran point guard Cameron Payne, the former Sixer who had been playing in Serbia, to a rest-of-season deal and forward Dalen Terry to a two-way contract. Those moves fill the roster spots vacated when the Sixers traded Jared McCain and Eric Gordon at the deadline earlier this month and converted forwards Dominick Barlow and Jabari Walker from two-way contracts to standard deals.

Martin was inactive for Thursday’s 117-107 loss to the Atlanta Hawks, with coach Nick Nurse noting that the coaching staff “obviously [has not] seen hardly any of him yet.” Terry, who signed his deal just before the All-Star break, also did not play.

Payne, however, immediately got back on the floor. Though he missed all three shot attempts, the 31-year-old totaled five of the Sixers’ 17 assists in less than 10 minutes.

“I’m figuring them out,” Payne said of his new teammates. “… I feel like we played fast when I was here [for the end of the 2023-24 season], but they play a lot faster now.”

Nurse said before Thursday’s loss that he also views Martin primarily as a point guard. He averaged 7.3 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.9 assists in 37 games with the Brooklyn Nets, then was released to free up roster spots at the trade deadline.

Before a November game against the Sixers, Nets coach Jordi Fernandez described Martin as a “grown up” and “rock star” inside Brooklyn’s deep rebuild and was a player to whom coaches could direct young teammates and say, “Look how he does it.” Nurse on Thursday also commended Martin’s basketball IQ, along with his 6-foot-6, 215-pound frame.

Yet on a Sixers team vying for playoff positioning — their 30-25 record is sixth in the Eastern Conference entering Friday — Martin most believes he can make an immediate impact as a defender who can pressure the ball and pick up 94 feet.

“Just play tough,” Martin said. “I think that’s where I can find myself fitting in real fast on this team.”

Martin’s opportunity became possible once the Sixers signed Walker to a standard contract on Thursday. After Walker could not play in the Sixers’ previous four matchups because he had exhausted his 50 active NBA games allowed on a two-way deal, he acknowledged “worrying a little bit” about his future while spending time with loved ones during the All-Star break.

But while Walker was sidelined, Nurse recognized that the Sixers “really need” the 6-foot-8, 235-pounder’s physicality as a rebounder and interior defender. Walker totaled four points, three rebounds, two assists and one steal — including a second-half highlight sequence when he hit a three-pointer, then corralled a steal and lofted an alley-oop pass to Adem Bona — in 10 minutes, 16 seconds of his return game against Atlanta.

Barlow, meanwhile, remained in the starting lineup with Paul George still suspended for violating the NBA’s anti-drug policy. Nurse was pleased both players had their contracts converted this month because “they just earned it, and they deserved it.”

“Young, hungry, playing-hard guys that I think we can have in our organization,” Nurse said. “We want [players like that]. I’m glad those guys got rewarded — both of them.”

Those contract conversions — plus other recent examples, such as Justin Edwards last season and Ricky Council IV in 2024 — demonstrate that the Sixers will use two-way players who provide value. Martin appreciates such evidence of opportunity. He took the floor for an early pregame on-court session Thursday and said he is working to quickly learn staffers’ names.

Nurse is unsure when Martin could see game action, with the Sixers entering a stretch of three road matchups in four nights. Yet Martin’s addition could complete the Sixers’ post-trade deadline roster, and it allowed him to join the NBA team closest to his hometown.

“We’ll get into what my path and my thing is for the rest of the season going forward,” Martin said. “But right now, I’ll just do what I’ve done when I was in this situation before and bet on myself.”