CAMDEN, N.J. — The Philadelphia 76ers returned to work on Tuesday following a rather easy blowout win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday at home. The Sixers are preparing for a two-game road trip at the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday and the Boston Celtics on Friday.
One injured Sixer who will make the trip is Kelly Oubre Jr. The veteran out of Kansas has been dealing with a rib fracture since Nov. 11 when he was struck by a vehicle. He has missed eight games for Philadelphia.
Coach Nick Nurse revealed he participated in some of practice on Tuesday and that he will make the trip.
“He was in part,” Nurse said. “He was in portions of practice today. Some of it was contact-wise. He did OK. He is gonna make the trip and we’re gonna keep putting him out there in team settings as we go here.”
Whether him traveling means Oubre will play remains to be seen. However, Nurse left the door cracked open — just not against the Pelicans on Wednesday.
“Maybe,” Nurse added. “Not tomorrow, but there’s more than one game on this trip. We are like, again, trying to do it as fast as we can and get him going. I’m not making many determinations on that he didn’t make it through everything today. I think he probably could have, but they just decided to go condition him and run him a little bit more.”
There are still some physical obstacles that Oubre must overcome to return to the floor. Nurse is going off whatever the medical staff is telling him.
“I think there’s all parts of it that he hasn’t played now,” Nurse continued. “There’s some conditioning work that needs to be done on top of just seeing what he can handle contact-wise, right? I mean, I know he was in and the next thing I looked up, I saw him doing sprints on the other court. So that’s just the medical’s best advice on what to do with him at the moment.”
Oubre has to not only be able to take contact, but he also has to show he has the conditioning needed to play for long stretches. Those are the thresholds he has to surmount.
“I’m just waiting for medical to tell me he’s ready to go, right?” Nurse finished. “I think that’s always the progress of can he go? Is he freely moving? Which I think he is. Can he get into this contact part of it? Not quite all the way there yet I don’t think with some sustainability and then we get to see where he is conditioning-wise at the end of that.”
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