Those were the first words from 21-year-old former Sixers guard Jared McCain in his latest vlog after getting traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Feb. 4 in exchange for a 2026 first-round pick and three second-round picks.
The former Rookie of the Year front-runner was surprised when he received the news on the team bus, which was headed to the San Francisco airport ahead of the Sixers’ road game against the Los Angeles Lakers.
“We were just on the bus,” McCain said in his latest YouTube video. “I get a call saying it might happen. And then like five minutes later [Daryl Morey] calls and says, ‘You’re cooked, Jared McCain.’ He said, ‘Bye, man. Never speak to me again.’ No, they were nice about it but, you know, it’s part of the NBA.”
When McCain initially broke the news to his teammates, they didn’t believe him.
“Right when I found out, I went to the back of the bus and I told Tyrese [Maxey] and nobody, they didn’t believe me,” McCain said. “And then I think management called them and then we were all getting on the plane and then I’m crying at this point. And we get off the buses and everybody is giving me hugs and I’m just crying. It was like a movie scene. Everybody is getting on the plane and I’m just crying. Lot of tears today. Happy, sad, I don’t know.”
Maxey thought it was a joke when McCain shared the news. Afterward, the All-Star point guard publicly discussed McCain’s departure, calling him his “little brother.”
“It was just like, ‘All right, whatever. He’s just joking,’” Maxey said. “Calls start coming in, and then you realize it’s real.”
McCain had a breakout rookie season, averaging 15.3 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 2.6 assists before his season was cut short by a torn meniscus in his left knee. McCain struggled in his second season after being sidelined for surgeries on his knee and thumb. In 37 games, the young guard averaged 6.6 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 1.7 assists.
On a private jet to Oklahoma City, McCain tried to keep a positive mindset on the trade — even if that meant drawing inspiration from his favorite music artist, Drake.
“I’m in shock still,” McCain said. “I’m an OKC Thunder. What did Drake say? ‘It’s raining money, Oklahoma City Thunder. The most successful rapper 35 and under.’ Drake did say that. So, maybe it was destined for me. And it was in Weston Road Flows too. But, shout-out OKC, man. OKC, here we come. I’m excited, blessed, thankful. Let’s go have some fun.”
Throughout the rest of the video, McCain shared his first few days with his new team — whether he was practicing how to say hi to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, visiting the Paycom Center, getting locked out of the Thunder’s training facility, meeting OKC fans, or playing in his first game with the team, when he finished with five points, two rebounds, and one assist — and received a standing ovation.
But the former Sixers first-round pick had one more message to Philly fans and it came in song form. McCain dedicated Olivia Dean’s “A Couple Minutes” to the organization and its fan base.
Jared McCain sang his heart out in a tribute to Philly fans 🥹💙
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Detroit Pistons center Jalen Duren, a former Roman Catholic star, was among four players ejected Monday night after a fight broke out in the team’s game with the Charlotte Hornets.
Charlotte’s Moussa Diabate and Miles Bridges were tossed along with Detroit’s Isaiah Stewart and Duren. Hornets coach Charles Lee was ejected in the fourth quarter after he had to be restrained from going after an official while arguing a call.
The Pistons won, 110-104. The loss ended the Hornets’ bid to match a franchise record with 10 straight wins.
Duren had the ball and was driving toward the basket with just over seven minutes left in the third period when he was fouled by Diabate. Duren turned around to get face-to-face with Diabate and the two appeared to butt heads. Duren then hit Diabate in the face with his open right hand, starting a confrontation that lasted more than 30 seconds and ultimately ended with a brief police presence on the floor.
While Pistons forward Tobias Harris was holding Diabate back, Diabate threw a punch at Duren. Duren walked away and Bridges charged at him, throwing a left-handed punch. Duren retaliated with a punch. Diabate attempted to charge again at Duren and had to be held back.
Charlotte Hornets forward Moussa Diabate is held back by Detroit’s Tobias Harris as he fights with Pistons center Jalen Duren (0).
Stewart left the bench to confront Bridges, who responded with a punch, and the players tussled. At one point, Stewart got Bridges in a headlock and delivered multiple left-handed blows to his head.
Duren called it an “overly competitive game.”
“Emotions were flaring,” Duren said. “At the end of the day, we would love to keep it basketball, but things happen. Everybody was just playing hard.”
Duren said that opposing NBA teams have been trying to “get in our head” all season.
“This isn’t the first time that people have tried to be like extra aggressive with us and talk to us, whatever the case may be,” Duren said. “But as a group we have done an OK job of handling that energy and intensity. At the end of the day, emotions got high with everybody being competitive. Things happen.”
Duren did not say how the fight started, referring reporters instead to the video replays.
The Hornets did not make Bridges and Diabate available for interviews after the game.
However, Bridges took to Instagram late Monday night to say: “Sorry Hornets nation! Sorry Hornets Organization.! Always gonna protect my teammates forever.”
“It looked like two guys got into a heated conversation and it just kind of spiraled from there,” Lee said.
Crew chief John Goble said in a pool report after the game that the players were ejected because they “engaged in fighting activity during the dead ball. After review, we assessed fighting fouls and by rule they were ejected from the game.”
Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff defended his players after the game.
“Our guys deal with a lot, but they’re not the ones that initiated, they’re not the ones who crossed the line tonight,” Bickerstaff said. “It was clear, through frustration, because of what J.D. [Duren] was doing, that they crossed the line. I hate that it got as ugly as it got.
“That’s not something that you ever want to see,” Bickerstaff added, “but if a guy throws a punch at you, you have a responsibility to protect yourself. That’s what happened tonight. If you go back and watch the film, they’re the ones who initiated crossing the line and our guy had to defend himself.”
Tensions continued to mount at the Spectrum Center after the fight.
Midway through the fourth quarter, Lee was ejected and had to be restrained by Hornets guard Brandon Miller while yelling at officials for a no-call after Charlotte’s Grant Williams collided with Detroit’s Paul Reed.
“Grant was walking down the paint and barely touched somebody and the guy fell over and that is what we are going to call a foul,” Lee said. “They have a hard job to make these calls, but I don’t think that was the consistency with which that had been called the rest of the game.”
PORTLAND, Ore. — As Jabari Walker worked his way around the three-point arc during Monday’s pregame warmup, a member of the Trail Blazers’ cheer team exclaimed, “Jabari’s back!”
Yes and no.
Walker, the 76ers reserve forward who spent his first three seasons with the Trail Blazers, was unable to play in his former NBA home. He has exhausted the maximum 50 games for which he is allowed to be active for the Sixers while on a two-way contract, leaving him ineligible since Thursday’s loss at the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Sixers could have used Walker in their 135-118 blowout loss in Portland, when starting wing Paul George was suspended, starting forward Dominick Barlow was a late scratch because of illness, and the team was in its final matchup of a grueling five-game Western Conference road trip. And though president of basketball operations Daryl Morey on Friday did not commit to converting Walker to a standard contract, Walker remains optimistic that such a deal will be “figured out” soon.
“It’s a good problem to have,” Walker told The Inquirer from his locker before the Sixers’ victory at the Phoenix Suns on Saturday. “It puts pressure on the organization or whoever is making the decision, which is all you can do as a player. …
“The energy from management is all positive, and it’s just a matter of time, it feels like.”
Jabari Walker (left, with Dominick Barlow) has contributed this season but has also had to find other ways to chip in via a bench role.
Sixers coach Nick Nurse also implied before Monday’s loss in Portland that he expects Walker to be converted “fairly soon … and [we will] get him back out there when all that stuff gets taken care of.”
Walker respectfully shrugged off periodic questions throughout the season about his dwindling NBA game days, as he is a rare two-way player who has consistently been in the Sixers’ rotation. Many players on this type of deal split time between the NBA and G League and/or regularly are inactive because they are less experienced and still developing.
Walker’s reality did not fully hit until he (and the Sixers) reached Game 50 last Tuesday at the Golden State Warriors. He received a phone call reminder that he was out of NBA eligibility but was assured of his value to the front office and “how important it is to try and keep me around,” he said.
“He’s been a tremendous next-man-up contributor, and we hope to have his services,” Morey said of Walker following the trade deadline. “But we do have to weigh optimal use of our scarce two roster spots and against the other opportunities, as well.
“So that will be written over time, whether or not we do that conversion.”
Jabari Walker is beloved by Sixers teammates and also brings energy when he cracks the lineup.
Walker has averaged 3.7 points and 3.1 rebounds in 12.1 minutes this season. He brings what teammate Kelly Oubre Jr. on Monday described as “unmatched” energy as a rebounder and physical defender, with spotty success as a three-point shooter (27% on 1.4 attempts per game). And Walker is well-liked inside the locker room, with Oubre sharing that teammates have nicknamed him “Mr. Rah-Rah” because he is “the sweetest dude. He’s friends with everybody.”
“Pretty reliable,” Nurse said Monday of Walker. “At this point, we know who he is and what he’s done for us. So it’s a guy we can kind of count on to do the same things every night.”
Added Walker: “I haven’t overstepped my role. I’ve been impactful. It’s validating to know that you play a solid role on a winning team.”
Walker has relished being immersed in the “completely different vibe” of a Sixers team vying for playoff positioning, with star teammates who he said have “an answer for every situation.” As the Sixers roster temporarily got healthier, however, Walker more often got squeezed out of the rotation.
Now, George still has 19 games remaining on his suspension after violating the NBA’s antidrug policy. His absence on Monday, plus Barlow’s illness and Walker’s ineligibility, thrust fellow two-way player MarJon Beauchamp into his first action as a Sixer.
Walker, though, is attempting to best maximize the time he is prohibited to play in NBA games. He has jumped into the five-on-five and three-on-three scrimmages with “low-minute” players on off days and can shoulder more strenuous weightlifting sessions. He is working on improving his lateral quickness on defense and becoming “more bouncy overall.” He also has focused on the fluidity of his three-point shot and “not overcomplicating it” while maintaining the confidence to launch when open.
Jabari Walker is averaging 3.7 points this season.
And Walker has taken mental notes on where his presence could have been felt in the three games he has missed. Watching Thursday’s loss at the Lakers, when the Sixers surrendered a 14-point second-half lead, was rough because he believed his playing style could have slowed the Lakers’ momentum. Walker thinks the Sixers staff feels similarly, which he recognizes is better than those coaches concluding that he “really would not have helped” in such a game.
After Monday’s matchup between Walker’s current and former teams, he greeted Portland All-Star Deni Avdija with a quick dance move and then chatted with Jerami Grant near midcourt. A few minutes later, Walker was spotted catching up with a Trail Blazers staffer in the hallway outside the visitors’ locker room. Walker then continued to linger with Avdija near the Moda Center’s loading dock, from where the Sixers team buses eventually departed for the airport.
Perhaps all of those reconnections were enough to create a fulfilling NBA homecoming. But Walker could not boost the shorthanded Sixers on the floor Monday because he is still waiting for his contract to be converted.
“It’s ‘free Bari’ until he’s back with us,” Oubre said. “Can’t wait for him to suit up and get out there.”
Philadelphia sports fans will soon be presented with a first — a chance to actually save money during the streaming wars.
Beginning this week, YouTube TV is rolling out a sports-specific plan featuring channels with major sports rights that will cost $64.99 a month, $18 less than what it currently charges for a subscription.
New subscribers can nab the deal for $54.99 a month for a year.
The plan will include all the major broadcast networks — ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox — and cable channels that hold sports rights, including ESPN’s networks (and full access to ESPN Unlimited beginning in the fall), FS1, TNT, TBS, TruTV (for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament), CBS Sports Network, Golf Channel, and USA Network, the U.S. home of Premier League games.
NBC Sports Philadelphia also will be included in the slimmed-down sports bundle for those who live in the Philadelphia TV market, a YouTube spokesperson confirmed. So will NBC’s other three regional sports networks in their respective areas: Boston, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Northern California. NBC Sports Philadelphia also still will be available to stream without a cable subscription through Peacock and MLB.TV.
YouTubeTV’s sports bundle will also include league-centric channels like the NFL Network (now owned by ESPN), the Big Ten Network, and NBA TV, which this season basically just airs a whip-around show called The Association and a handful of NBA games.
While the plan gets sports fans the bulk of NFL, MLB, NBA, and NHL games, there are a few omissions. Amazon’s Prime Video, which features Thursday Night Football, weekly NBA games, and playoff games in both leagues, isn’t included. It also doesn’t include the handful of NFL and MLB games streamed by Netflix, or Apple TV+’s Friday Night Baseball or MLS games.
Another notable omission is MLB Network, which hasn’t been available on YouTube TV since 2023 because of a carriage dispute.
YouTube TV is also rolling out slimmed-down subscription offerings for entertainment fans ($54.99 a month), a sports-plus-news package ($71.99 a month), and a family-focused plan ($69.99 a month).
Why now? Growth. YouTubeTV is the third-largest cable TV provider in the country and growing, with over 10 million subscribers, trailing just Charter (12.6 million) and Comcast (11.3 million). While Comcast has been shedding video customers, Charter has been able to stem its losses by offering its own skinny bundle, something fans and non-fans alike have been complaining about for years.
YouTube, the free older brother of YouTube TV, hasn’t been quiet about wanting to stream more NFL games in the near future. It could get its wish as soon as next season.
As part of its purchase of NFL Media and the NFL Network, ESPN agreed to give the league back the TV rights to four games. Those will now head to the marketplace, where YouTube is expected be among the bidders. It’s no surprise that YouTube CEO Neal Mohan was among the big names sitting with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell in his Super Bowl box on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium.
“We really value our partnership with the NFL,” Christian Oestlien, YouTube’s vice president of subscription product, told Bloomberg.com in a recent interview. “Everything we’ve done with them so far has been really successful. And so we’re very excited about the idea that we could be doing more with them.”
YouTube’s biggest competitor for those four games likely will be Netflix, which is entering the last year of its three-season deal to stream NFL Christmas games. Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s co-CEO, was also in Goodell’s booth.
YouTube streamed its first NFL game last season, the Week 1 matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers played in São Paulo, Brazil. The game drew 17.3 million global viewers, including 16.2 million in the United States, a big number boosting the streamer’s chances of landing more games.
More sports media news
ESPN will broadcast next year’s Super Bowl in Los Angeles, and you’re going to hear a lot over the next year about it being the network’s first. But it has aired on sister network, ABC. As pointed out by Sports Media Watch’s Jon Lewis, ABC has broadcast three Super Bowls since being purchased by ESPN’s parent company, Disney, in 1996 — in 2000, 2003, and 2006, with coverage featuring Chris Berman and a number of ESPN personalities. The Super Bowl also has aired in Spanish on ESPN Deportes.
Happy trails to the laptop of The Athletic’s Tony Jones, which was destroyed after it was hit by a T-shirt shot by a cannon during the fourth quarter of Sunday’s Super Bowl. Jones said the rolled-up T-shirt hit his computer, which then hit him in the face, cracking the screen and preventing him from filing a story.
NBC will air MLB games this season for the first time since 1989 and is filling out its broadcast bench, adding studio analysts (and recent MLBers) Clayton Kershaw, Anthony Rizzo, and Joey Votto. You might not see much of them during the regular season, but all three will be part of NBC’s coverage of the wild-card series, which it’s taking over from ESPN.
Super Bowl viewership numbers will be out later Tuesday. If you care about such things and have seen numbers on social media, ignore them. The Eagles’ blowout win last year against the Chiefs averaged over 127 million viewers, peaking with Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show, with over 133 million people tuning in. We’ll see how Bad Bunny and Sunday’s boring Super Bowl can match that.
For the first time in a 12-year career that has been as sporadic as it has been incandescent, Joel Embiid is performing to the level of his potential.
If that sounds demeaning for a player who won the NBA MVP award in 2023, then you didn’t appreciate his unprecedented potential then and you don’t appreciate his diminished potential now.
Embiid had a chance to be the best big man in NBA history. However, a lack of professionalism rooted in indifference to discipline both on and off the court, combined with a cascade of injuries rooted in bad conditioning and bad luck, always limited his performance. He has missed almost half of the Sixers’ games in his career. This time last year, a lingering knee injury brought him to the brink of irrelevance.
Now, though, he seems to be the best possible version of himself. His new self. And he’s only getting better.
“I continue to see improvement,” Sixers president Daryl Morey said last week. “He feels like he’s improving still.”
How?
He listened to his doctors. He lost weight. He adjusted his game and is more deferential. He became a better teammate. He might not be going to the All-Star Game this weekend, but he’s playing at an All-Star level.
Sixers coach Nick Nurse will not play Joel Embiid on the second night of a back-to-back.
Embiid said last week he doesn’t care about what would be an eighth All-Star appearance: “I don’t need validation from anybody. I’m just excited to be playing every night.”
Everything is a bonus.
“Coming into this year, I thought it was going to be more of a tryout year,” he said.
He’s played in only 31 games, which is probably why he was not elected as an All-Star by the fans, media, and players, who vote on the starters; nor by the coaches, who vote on the reserves.
After all, Embiid missed 14 of the 76ers’ first 22 games as he grew accustomed to a new body and a new mindset and committed more fully to his rehab regimen.
That commitment has borne fruit. Embiid has played in 23 of the last 30 games, averaging 29.4 points and 8.2 rebounds in 33.8 minutes in that span. The Sixers were 14-9 in those games entering Monday. They held the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference, which is vulnerable due to the absence of stars in Boston and Indiana.
Given the intermittent nature of a playoff schedule, there’s no reason to think that Embiid couldn’t be similarly productive throughout a postseason run. He doesn’t play in back-to-back games, and he probably never will again, but there are no back-to-backs in the postseason. He did not play Monday in Portland due to right knee soreness, another enduring issue, but missing just seven of 30 games on 31-year-old knees that have undergone a total of four procedures has been a best-case scenario.
“We thought that Joel could still get to this level and play to this level,” Morey said. “I think there was a lot of very reasonable skepticism. But all I ever had was talking to our medical staff and doctors, and there was a lot of confidence that he could get to this place if he put in the time.”
That was a big “if.”
“He has,” Morey said.
Clearly.
Sixers center Joel Embiid shoots over New Orleans Pelicans guard Micah Peavy on Jan. 31.
Embiid underwent meniscus surgery in February 2024. He returned in April for the Sixers’ failed playoff run, then foolishly participated in the Paris Olympics with Team USA (he’s a naturalized citizen).
He showed up for training camp on Sept. 30 both out of shape and far behind on his rehab, and missed the first three weeks of the season. He was hopeless when he returned. The Sixers insisted the knee was fit for play and there was no further injury, but Embiid could not endure the pain and swelling. Doctors said the process of recovery involved strengthening the muscles that surround the knee; weight loss, to reduce the stress on the joint; and overall body strength to better distribute the load. He just got worse.
Embiid played in just 19 games last season, and, after the 16th one, suggested to a television reporter that he needed another surgery. To that end, Embiid eventually visited Dr. Jonathan Glashow, a Manhattan-based orthopedic surgeon and NBA specialist. Glashow performed an arthroscopic procedure on April 9.
This, of course, undermined the medical advice Embiid received from at least six other doctors.
So what, exactly, did Glashow do? Nobody will say. The Sixers, who since 2013 have been cursed by injuries like no other NBA team, are relatively transparent regarding significant medical procedures, at least eventually. Not this time.
Glashow last month posted on social media, but only to offer thanks to a grateful Sixers community and to offer vague praise of Embiid’s “dedication and hard work.”
The surgeon did not, however, reply for comment for this story.
Dr. Jonathan Glashow, who has received recent praise from Sixers fans as Joel Embiid’s progression continues, posted this video on Instagram earlier today: https://t.co/RcbQqMGp3hpic.twitter.com/pCNMnXnLGO
So, the question remains: What did Glashow do? Did he discover an injury other doctors missed?
About a year ago I wrote a column interviewing orthopedic surgeons who detailed options open to Embiid, many of which might have cost Embiid this season. When presented with the options, the Sixers acknowledged that the list was complete.
League sources indicate that Glashow did not perform any of the more radical procedures. According to the sources’ knowledge, Embiid underwent the most minor possible procedure on the list: putting the arthroscope into the knee, making sure there was nothing new causing irritation, and getting out.
After the visit to Glashow, sources say, everything improved. Maybe the big guy got scared straight. Embiid got better rest, he ate smarter, he was even more focused in his rehab sessions. He lost weight. His pain tolerance increased.
Maybe it just took more time than expected. Everybody heals at a different rate. Everybody’s commitment to rehabilitation is different. Doctors can project typical timelines, but returning to play seldom follows a straight line. There are setbacks. There are plateaus. The body has to develop compensatory strength and stability for strength and stability that has been lost forever.
At any rate, less than a calendar year later, Embiid is back — at least, he’s more “back” than anyone expected.
Can it last?
Joel Embiid’s $188 million contract extension will kick in next season.
Sustainability
The Sixers will have 28 games left after the Knicks visit Wednesday and the All-Star break begins, with six back-to-backs. Can Embiid play in, say, 22 games? After this season, the Sixers owe Embiid $188 million over the next three years. How much will he be able to give them when he’s 34?
“We do think it’s sustainable,” Morey said.
He’s in good hands. Embiid singled out Simon Rice, the team’s vice president of athlete care, as the main reason for his comeback. But it’s not as if the Sixers hired Rice and then Embiid got better. Rice has been with the Sixers since 2020.
No: This is less about the doctors than it is about the patient. Since last spring, Embiid simply has been more professional. More mature.
Sixers sources say that, after Tyrese Maxey called him out last year for chronic tardiness, Embiid has not been as late as often for the team bus or the team plane. He is more present in the locker room during the team’s downtime. He has been more engaging with young players like rookie VJ Edgecombe, with new players like Dominick Barlow, and with fringe players like Quentin Grimes.
Maybe Maxey’s emergence as the team’s MVP and spokesperson relieved from Embiid the pressure of a role for which he was never equipped.
“He’s like the fun-loving uncle now,” said one Sixers insider.
That’s something.
He’s not MVP-level Embiid, and he never again will be. His defensive movement will never return to the all-defensive levels of his youth, but his positioning is good, and he occasionally blocks a shot. He’s even started dunking again. Gently.
“I think, from now on, every single day … keep stacking them up, it’s only going to get better. With the hope that, whether it’s by the playoffs or next year, I’m really, really back to being myself. I’m on my way there,” Embiid told the Inquirer during the team’s West Coast trip.
That’s a pipe dream, of course. But Embiid is so gifted that this new version certainly should be an annual All-Star contender.
It’s always been hard to quantify Embiid’s intangible value. You can say he’s ninth in “DARKO” or seventh in “PER” or whatever composite metric you like, but the eye test will tell you that Embiid once again is among the NBA’s best players, night in and night out.
Every time the 76ers seem to be on the right path, injuries and/or illness pop up.
That prevented them from accomplishing something that hasn’t been done since March 2023.
Also, VJ Edgecombe must regain his shooting touch.
Those things stood out in Monday’s 135-118 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers at Moda Center.
The loss dropped the Eastern Conference’s sixth-place Sixers to 30-23. They also fell 1½ games behind the fifth-place Toronto Raptors. Meanwhile, the Blazers (26-28) won their third straight game after losing their previous six.
Always something
The Sixers came into this matchup winners of six of their last seven games.
Joel Embiid averaged 33.0 points and shot 50.0% on three-pointers while playing in six of those games. Dominick Barlow averaged 12.6 points, 3.6 offensive rebounds, and 1.2 steals while starting in the last five games. And Quentin Grimes was back to providing energy off the bench, putting his athleticism on full display.
This matchup against the struggling Blazers was supposed to be an easy victory for the Sixers if they remained healthy.
Unfortunately for them, health was indeed an issue.
Embiid missed the game due to right knee injury management. Meanwhile, Barlow and Grimes were both sidelined due to illness.
As a result, Andre Drummond and Trendon Watford started alongside regular starters Kelly Oubre Jr., Tyrese Maxey, and Edgecombe.
The Sixers were also without Paul George, who missed his sixth game as he serves a 25-game suspension for violating the NBA anti-drug policy. Meanwhile, the team also traded guards Jared McCain to the Oklahoma City Thunder and Eric Gordon to the Memphis Grizzlies ahead of Thursday’s trade deadline to get under the luxury tax threshold and free up roster spots.
As a result, seldom-used point guard Kyle Lowry got first-quarter minutes and two-way guard MarJon Beauchamp made his first appearance of the season.
Is this current version of the Sixers deep enough?
“Given these situations, it’s a good chance to give Justin [Edwards] and Beachamp tonight a chance, [and] to give Watford a start,” coach Nick Nurse said to the media. “These guys, I think we are still learning. And these guys need more minutes learning. They need to get more minutes. They need more conditioning. They need to get in the groove of things. And you know, when everybody is playing, there’s no minutes for them to do that.
“So I mean, just those three guys I mentioned did OK.”
Trendon Watford (12) scored 12 points while getting the start due to Dominick Barlow being sidelined with an illness.
Watford finished with 12 points and three assists. Edwards had 12 points and three steals, while Beauchamp finished with 10 points, four rebounds, four assists, and three steals.
Maxey finished with 30 points, marking his 22nd game with at least 30 points.
On this night, the Sixers were, once again, doomed by third-quarter struggles. The Blazers outscored them 49-22 in the quarter to take a 113-87 advantage into the fourth. Portland broke the quarter wide open thanks to a 27-7 run. It also had a 12-0 advantage in second-chance points in what was the Sixers’ worst third quarter of the season.
“Obviously, it was a bunch of energy things,” Nurse said. “We didn’t rebound it well enough, I mean, transition rebounding. We didn’t get out to shooters near enough. They were just lacing up threes. So it was up the floor quick. We were losing matchups.”
But none of this was surprising for a Sixers squad that entered the game with an NBA-worst minus-16.4 net rating in the third quarter.
Toumani Camara torched the Sixers with a career high of 30 points and eight three-pointers. With the game out of hand, the Belgian forward sat out the fourth quarter.
The Blazers came into the contest ranked last in the NBA in three-point percentage at 33.9%. But you wouldn’t have known that, as Portland shot 40.7% on Monday.
The Sixers were also outrebounded 51-33. The Blazers held a 20-8 advantage in offensive boards.
Unable to finish 4-1
With the loss, the Sixers finished their road trip at 3-2. After beating the Phoenix Suns on Saturday, the expectation was that they would go 4-1 on their five-game trip against the Los Angeles Clippers (Feb. 6), Golden State Warriors (Tuesday), Los Angeles Lakers (Thursday), the Suns, and the Blazers.
Their other loss was a 119-115 decision to the Lakers at Crypto.com Arena. On that night, the Sixers fell apart after intermission, committing 11 turnovers.
A victory would have enabled them to go 4-1 on a road trip for the first time since facing the Miami Heat, Dallas Mavericks, Milwaukee Bucks, Indiana Pacers, and Minnesota Timberwolves.
“I would say … four and a half really good games,” Nurse said of the road trip. “I think there was a half here tonight or a quarter here tonight that was really bad, and one quarter in LA. But most of it was really good basketball.”
Tyrese Maxey’s 30 points on Monday were not enough for the shorthanded Sixers to finish the road trip 4-1.
Edgecombe’s shooting woes
Edgecombe hasn’t shot the ball well since the Sixers’ five-game post-Christmas road trip. He shot 41.3% from the field and 33.0% on three-pointers during the 19 games before the contest with the Blazers. In his previous 12 games, the rookie shooting guard shot 29.7% from deep.
But with Embiid and Maxey dominating, Edgecombe’s poor shooting flew under the radar.
That wasn’t the case against Portland. With three players out, Edgecombe needed to provide more of the offensive load. And as a result, his shooting woes were more noticeable.
Unfortunately for him, he couldn’t shed the poor-shooting blues.
Edgecombe had 11 points on 3-for-13 shooting — including going 1 of 6 on three-pointers — along with six rebounds, three assists, and two blocks. One of his missed shot attempts was a third-quarter airball three-pointer. The good thing is that Edgecombe has been able to contribute without scoring.
However, he’s going to need to improve his shooting for the Sixers to sustain success.
The Sixers suffered a 135-118 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers to finish their five-game road trip at 3-2. pic.twitter.com/QVH62ekYsb
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Toumani Camara scored a career-high 30 points and shot 8 of 10 from three-point range, Deni Avdija had 26 points and 10 rebounds, and the Portland Trail Blazers used a huge third quarter to cruise to a 135-118 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers, who played without Joel Embiid on Monday night.
Jerami Grant and Donovan Clingan each added 15 points for the Trail Blazers, who trailed 65-64 at halftime before outscoring the 76ers 49-22 in the third to take control.
Embiid, who scored 33 points in a win at Phoenix on Saturday night, sat out against Portland to rest his right knee after an off day. Tyrese Maxey had 30 points and Kelly Oubre Jr. added 19 for the 76ers, who wrapped up a 3-2 Western road trip and lost for just the second time in eight games overall.
Philadelphia took a 67-64 lead coming out of halftime on Andre Drummond’s layup, but the 76ers never led again.
Grant made a 3-pointer to tie it and Avdija — who sat out last Saturday in a win against Memphis with a back ailment — followed with a three-pointer of his own to put Portland ahead. That set off an 18-4 run that was capped by another three by Avdija to make it 82-69.
The Trail Blazers took their biggest lead of the game of 31 points, when Jrue Holiday cashed a three-pointer less than a minute into the fourth quarter to put Portland up 118-87.
Scoot Henderson, who sat out last Saturday with a left hamstring ailment after making his season debut for the Trail Blazers the previous night, returned and had 12 points and seven assists.
Portland finished 22 of 54 from three-point range.
Up next
76ers: Host the New York Knicks on Wednesday night.
Trail Blazers: Play at Minnesota on Wednesday night.
PORTLAND, Ore. — Joel Embiid (right knee injury management), Quentin Grimes (illness), and Dominick Barlow (illness) will miss the 76ers’ game Monday at the Trail Blazers, the team announced.
The absences leave the Sixers without three rotation players for the final matchup of a five-game Western Conference road trip. Andre Drummond and Trendon Watford will start in place of Embiid and Barlow, respectively.
Embiid has been dominant offensively in recent weeks, and is averaging 26.6 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 3.6 assists in 31 games. Barlow, who recently was converted from a two-way contract to a standard deal, arguably has been the Sixers’ most pleasant surprise in averaging 8.4 points, five rebounds, 1.2 assists, and one steal in 42 games with 35 starts at forward. Grimes has been the Sixers’ sixth man for much of the season, averaging 12.7 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 3.6 assists in 48 games.
Coach Nick Nurse said during his pregame news conference that Grimes’ sickness emerged during Monday morning’s shootaround. Grimes was present at the Moda Center about an hour before tipoff, but was in street clothes inside the locker room. Barlow was also at the arena and took the floor for his pregame on-court workout.
The Sixers (30-22) could rely on Watford for more offense-initiating responsibilities, or on Justin Edwards for increased wing minutes. Kyle Lowry also could be a guard option off the bench. The Sixers are missing the suspended wing Paul George, who is a strong playmaker, while guards Jared McCain and Eric Gordon were traded last week. Jabari Walker, who has been in the rotation as a reserve big man for much of the season, is ineligible to play Monday because he has reached the maximum allowed 50 NBA games while on a two-way contract.
After Monday’s game in Portland, the Sixers host the New York Knicks Wednesday and then enter the All-Star break.
It was a little jarring to see the reaction that Jared McCain got the other night when he checked into a game against the Rockets for his first minutes as a member of the Thunder. The home crowd sure didn’t sound like one that thought the Sixers had sold high on McCain, as Daryl Morey contended the previous day when defending his decision to trade the second-year guard to Oklahoma City for a (presumably) late first-round pick in June’s draft. While the wisdom of NBA crowds probably shouldn’t dictate personnel strategy, the ovation awarded McCain by his new fan base at least served to validate the prevailing sentiment back here in Philadelphia. Given that the defending NBA champs are plenty excited to add McCain to a roster that already had an overabundance of talent, it’s tough to accuse Sixers fans of overreacting if they feel let down by the move.
Time will be the ultimate judge. Morey admitted as much on Friday as he laid out the rationale for the Sixers’ somewhat surprising decision to trade McCain without receiving any sort of established NBA talent in return. The veteran executive said that he made the McCain move with the thought that the draft capital it returned would eventually facilitate the addition of such talent, but that nothing sensible presented itself before Thursday’s 3 p.m. trade deadline.
“We thought that the draft picks we got would help us more in the future — and could’ve helped us this deadline,” Morey said. “The picks we got were offered to many teams and nothing materialized for a player that we thought could move the needle with those picks now. But we feel like going forward, those picks will help us build the team in the future in a good way.”
What might that look like?
It’s a sensible question to consider even now.
Sixers president Daryl Morey intimated that he could use the draft picks from the Jared McCain trade in a deal for a veteran down the line.
The Sixers still have plenty they can accomplish this season. Whatever they do with the McCain draft capital won’t help them in those endeavors. At 30-22, they are 3½ games behind the second-place Knicks and Celtics, part of a group of six or seven teams jockeying for playoff position in an Eastern Conference that lacks a bona fide powerhouse. Yet their third-best player is a rookie, and their second-best player is only now looking something like the player who single-handedly made them a contender for so many years.
Even in a conference where Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton are out for the season and the first-place Pistons have the sixth-best championship odds, it’s difficult to picture a Big Three of Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid, and VJ Edgecombe winning a title in 2025-26. Especially with Paul George in the early stages of a 25-game suspension for violating the league’s anti-drug policy. Which makes next year a viable consideration.
On Friday, Morey sounded a lot like the guy who entered the 2022 offseason planning on trading away the club’s first-round pick for a win-now player. That year, the Sixers ended up trading the No. 23 pick for De’Anthony Melton (technically, they drafted David Roddy and then shipped him to the Grizzlies). Likewise with the McCain trade. Morey didn’t make it in order to position the Sixers to draft a player in June.
“That wasn’t the main focus,” he said. “I think it’s a nice focus, because we do think this draft is a good draft, but we’re not necessarily using the pick in this draft. It could be used for moves around the draft. The three seconds that we got with it, we think those could be used to move up in this draft. Obviously, myself and our front office have done a lot of deals over the years, and this just gives us more tools to make the moves that we think will help our future more than we saw with Jared, who we gave up. But that’s not a comment on Jared.”
A few things are worth pointing out. The Melton deal is a relevant example of the sort of player the Sixers could potentially acquire in a one-for-one deal. Then 24 years old, Melton was a nice player, but hardly a needle-mover. He was coming off a season in which he averaged almost 23 minutes per game in a playoff rotation, shooting .374 from three-point range and contributing lots of the little things. He ended up averaging nearly 28 minutes and 10.1 points for the Sixers in 2022-23, then missed the second half of 2023-24 with a back injury. Then Melton moved on, signing a free-agent contract with the Warriors.
So, it’s worth noting that Melton spent only two years with the Sixers, which is the same amount of time McCain had left before the team would have needed to make a decision on a contract extension.
That said, the Sixers have more draft capital to play with this time around. They are also heading into an offseason when teams could be looking to accrue draft capital in order to facilitate an offer for Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, which could shake loose some opportunities for the Sixers (assuming Antetokounmpo himself isn’t a target).
Perhaps Thunder standout Luguentz Dort will be a good fit for the Sixers in the offseason.
It isn’t hard to dream up deals that would lend some new and Sixers-affirming perspective to the decision to trade McCain. One scenario in particular involves the team that just acquired the young guard. The Thunder are fast approaching a point where they could need to make some tough decisions with regard to their roster. One player in particular who would fit nicely with the Sixers — or with any contender — is 26-year-old wing Luguentz Dort, who has an $18.2 million team option next season, his last before free agency. If the Thunder don’t think they can accommodate a market-rate contract for Dort, it would make a lot of sense for them to explore moving him this summer. A defensive dynamo and good shooter, Dort would surely attract plenty of interest on the trade market.
Should the potential for such a move present itself, the Sixers will be in a better position to make a competitive offer. The McCain draft capital could also help them shed the last two years of George’s contract should they have the opportunity to sign or acquire a player using the cap space they would free up by parting ways with George’s salary. Those are just a couple of for-instances.
Again, time will tell. McCain played 14 minutes for the Thunder the other night. He didn’t add much to the stat sheet: five points, a couple of turnovers, 1-for-3 from three-point range. But he did finish with a plus-12 in a game the Thunder lost by six. The Sixers hope they will end up parlaying the McCain trade into a player who can contribute to a championship team. The Thunder hope that’s what McCain is.
Those moves were made in part to accomplish the team’s goal of getting under the luxury tax threshold at the trade deadline for the fourth consecutive year. But the Sixers will still need to make roster additions for what they hope is a championship run.
Right now, Charles Bassey is on his second 10-day contract, while Patrick Baldwin Jr. is on his first 10-day. Once those contracts expire on Saturday, the Sixers will have two available roster spots.
Since five games have passed during Paul George’s 25-game suspension, the forward will be moved from the active to the suspended list. So the Sixers will be able to sign an additional player if need be.
The team could opt to use one of the available spots to convert Jabari Walker’s two-way contract into a standard contract, as the Sixers did with Dominick Barlow on Thursday. Walker has been inactive for the last two games because he ran out of the allotted number of games a two-way player can be available for an NBA game.
The Sixers also can try to sign players via the buyout market. However, Walker’s situation will factor into their decision-making.
The Sixers have to decide whether they want to convert Jabari Walker’s two-way contract to a standard NBA deal or add players in the buyout market.
“Jabari, for sure,” Morey said. “Not to reference our [collective bargaining agreement] we all live under, [but] it’s sort of like, you know, annoying … just how it all works, that Jabari can’t play for some games here. He’s obviously been part of our next man up mentality. I think coach [Nick] Nurse has done a good job when we’ve had players in and out, which we’ve had less of this year. But we’ve still had quite a bit, especially with the recent Paul news, things like that.”
With George suspended for violating the league’s anti-drug program, Barlow has moved back into the starting lineup at power forward. Trendon Watford and Justin Edwards have been the two forwards off the bench.
“He’s been a tremendous next man up type contributor,” Morey said of Walker. “We hope to have his services going forward, but we do have to weigh optimal use of our sort of scarce two roster spots, and against the other opportunities as well. So that’ll be written over time, whether or not we do that conversion there.”
The Sixers are $1.57 million below the $187.9 million tax line and $3.75 million under the $195.9 million first apron. As a result, the Sixers will have only enough space under the luxury tax to fit two more season minimum salary contracts for the rest of the season.
Among the buyout-market candidates are power forward Chris Boucher, point guard Lonzo Ball, forward Haywood Highsmith, and wing Khris Middleton, if he is waived by the Dallas Mavericks.
The Boston Celtics traded Boucher to the Utah Jazz, who waived him.
Boucher failed to crack the Celtics’ rotation after signing a one-year minimum deal this past summer. However, he flourished in the last seven seasons as a reserve glue guy for the Toronto Raptors. Nurse was Raptors coach during Boucher’s first five seasons in Toronto. He was able to get the best out of the undersized post player, who averaged 8.9 points and 5.1 rebounds in 406 games as a Raptor.
Sixers forward Dominick Barlow had his two-way contract converted to a standard deal on Thursday.
Highsmith began his NBA career as a Sixers two-way player on Jan. 8, 2019. After being waived less than a month later, he thrived with the Delaware Blue Coats, leading to an opportunity with the Miami Heat. He played in 213 games, with 80 starts, over four seasons with the Heat before signing with the Brooklyn Nets last summer.
He has not played this season because of a meniscus tear in his right knee. Now healthy, Highsmith has been taking part in five-on-five drills and was on track to return Wednesday before the Nets released him to free up a roster spot. The 6-foot-5, 220-pounder is expected to draw interest from teams looking for wing depth.
Middleton is a three-time All-Star with career averages of 16.4 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 3.9 assists, while shooting 38.5% from three-point range in 810 games over 14 seasons.
Because of injuries, the Milwaukee Bucks moved the former fixture to the Washington Wizards last February in a four-team trade that enabled them to acquire Kyle Kuzma from Washington. On Thursday, Middleton was moved to the Mavericks as part of a three-team trade that netted the Wizards 10-time All-Star Anthony Davis.
While he’s not the player he once was, Middleton could be a solid option to provide some scoring off the bench if the Mavs buy him out.
Ball was the second overall pick by the Los Angeles Lakers in 2017. The 6-5, 190-pounder also played for the New Orleans Pelicans and Chicago Bulls before a significant knee injury derailed his career. The Bulls traded him to the Cleveland Cavaliers in June. In a salary-clearing move, Cleveland traded him on Thursday to the Jazz, who waived him.
Former Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Lonzo Ball could be available for teams to sign in the buyout market.
He averaged just 4.6 points on 30.1% shooting (27.2% on three-pointers) in 35 games with three starts for the Cavs. But he could be an option to provide guard depth after the Sixers parted ways with McCain and Gordon.
“I mean, we have two [spots] to fill,” Morey said of the team’s needs. “Obviously, Barlow was one of the signings. I think balancing it out with guard and wing might — we really want to go for best player. I mean, obviously, that sounds trite, but that’s true. You do want to focus on a little roster balance in terms of adding. …
“We thought, yeah, backfilling Paul was a possible spot while he was out, but I hate to repeat it again, the operative players that were available [in a trade] weren’t adding in a way that was material [compared] to what teams wanted us to give up.”
