PHILADELPHIA — De’Anthony Melton has been having a terrific season on the floor for the Philadelphia 76ers. In the 36 games he has played, Melton is averaging 11.5 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 3.1 assists along with 1.6 steals and shooting 36.2% from deep.
Unfortunately for Melton, he has also been dealing with a back injury all season long. He missed games in early January with the issue, returned for two games, but then missed 18 games from Jan. 12 to Feb. 23 due to the injury.
He then played three games before another back injury in Tuesday’s loss to the Boston Celtics. The Sixers announced that Melton was out for Friday’s contest with the Charlotte Hornets as well as the team’s upcoming quick 2-game road trip.
When considering how little games are left in the 2023-24 season, one has to wonder if this is it for Melton for the season. However, coach Nick Nurse doesn’t believe this will keep him out.
“I don’t think so,” said Nurse. “I don’t think so. No. I think that he had a good stretch of practices and felt fine and then didn’t feel fine again coming out of Boston so they’re back at it. He’s got a couple of days here to work on it and look at it and starting next week, we’ll have a better idea.”
Melton is a very important part of this team. Not only do the Sixers need him on the floor, but he’s also entering free agency this offseason. One has to feel sorry for Melton going through this back injury at such a crucial time for him.
“For sure,” Nurse added. “I think that he’s certainly an important part of our team, right? Got kind of a good steady demeanor and calm guy out there and he’s got some instincts defensively that are super special, right? That’s one thing as far as that goes, but yeah, he’s in an important time of his career personally as well. So let’s just hope we can get back him out there. There’s a lot of games to go yet for him this year.”
With Melton set to miss the next three games, there will be 21 games left when Philadelphia returns home on March 6 to host the Memphis Grizzlies.
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